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A LETTER 



ON THE 



GENIUS AND DISPOSITIONS 



OF THE 



French Government. 



INCLUDING 



A VIEW OF THE TAXATION OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND, 

By an American recently returned from Europe, 

" Heureux, toutes les fois que je me'dite sur les gouvernemens, de. 
*' trouver toujours dans mes recherches, de nouvelles raisons d' aimer 
" e'eliti de mon pays.'* Rousseau, Contraf Social. 

' % 

BALTIMORE, 

Published by P. H. Nicklin and Co.; also by Hopkins and Earle 
Phliadelphia; Farrand, Mallory and Co. Boston; E.F. Backus, Albany; 
Williams and Whiting, New York; J. Parker, Pittsburgh; and E. 
ISf opford, Wellin"gton and Co. Charleston, South Carolina. 
1810. 



m 



r. 



District of Pennsylvania, to wit: 

********* BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-se- 

* SEAL. * venth day of December, in the thirty -fourth year of 

1*******1 tbe independence of the United States of America, 

A. D. 1809, Hopkins andEarle, of the said district, 

have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof 

they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: 

" A Letter on the genius and dispositions of the French 
" Government, including a view of the taxation of the 
" French Empire. Addressed to a friend, by an Ameri- 
" can recently returned from Europe. * Heureux, toutes les 
ft fois que je medite sur les gouvernemens, de trouver tou- 
" jours dans mes recherches de nouvelles raisons d'aimer 
'* celui de mon pays.' JRousseau, Contrat Social. E<V oiavbg 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, 
intituled, " An act for the encouragement of learning, by secur- 
ing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and 
proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." 
And also to the act, entitled " An act supplementary to an 
act, entitled ' An act for the encouragement of learning, by 
securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors 
and proprietors of such copies during the time therein men- 
tioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of de- 
signing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 

D. CALDWELL, 
Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



THE following pages were written amid 
a variety of pursuits in the course of the 
two last months. They are now given with 
some precipitation to the public, in conse- 
quence of a belief, that, if destined to be at 
all useful, they may be particularly so at this 
moment. It was originally intended to insert 
the name of the gentleman to whom they are 
addressed, and who enjoys, both here and 
abroad, the highest reputation as a statesman 
and an author. Considerations of a private na- 
ture have induced the writer to relinquish this 
plan, but he has still thought proper to retain 
the form of a letter, which exacts a less scru- 
pulous adherence to method than any other 
shape, into which his ideas could have been 
thrown. He disclaims all party feelings or views ^ 



IV 



and is animated solely by a wish to promote 
the cause of truth. The sketch, which he has 
drawn of the French finances, is collected from 
original documents of unquestionable authority, 
and, together with many of the topics in rela- 
tion to the state of England upon which he 
has merely touched, forms but the outline of a 
much larger work which he has now in a state 
of forwardness. In the publication of these 
pages, he derives no small confidence from the 
habitual attention which he has given to poli- 
tical studies, and from the frequent intercourse 
which he enjoyed, during a long residence 
abroad, with many of the most enlightened 
statesmen of Europe. These advantages great- 
ly facilitated the attainment of correct infor- 
mation, and in the opinion of those particularly 
who are acquainted with the extent of the last, 
cannot fail to add weight to his theory, and to 
stamp a character of peculiar authenticity on 
the facts which he has occasion to introduce in 
the progress of this inquiry. 

Philadelphia, December 2, 1809, 



/ 



A LETTER, &c. 



MY DEAR SIR, 

IN the course of the conversations which wc 
have held since my return from Europe, you 
have often had the goodness to express a wish 
to see my views of the actual condition of 
France, and of the genius of her government* 
presented with more detail and method than the 
nature of our verbal intercourse would admit. 
The encouragement I derive from your favour- 
able opinion, and the desire which I have al- 
ways felt of being useful to our country, have, 
at length, determined me to undertake this in- 
vestigation, from which I have been hitherto 
diverted by a multitude of domestic avocations* 

A 



l 2 

If I had not known how few of the sound 
political tracts of Europe are in circulation 
here, and how little we are in the habit of 
reasoning from general views, I should have 
been surprised to find opinions in vogue, which 
have been long since abandoned even by that 
description of European politicians whose sym- 
pathies were once so powerfully attracted to the 
success of French policy both external and do- 
mestic. Were our own errors merely specula- 
tive, and not of essential importance to our vital 
interests, we might view them, if not with an 
eye of indifference, at least, without feelings of 
dismay; but, it is our misfortune that the cha- 
racter of our internal administration, of our 
moral habits and of our foreign relations, — that 
our laws and liberties depend, in a great de- 
gree, upon a proper understanding of the genius 
and dispositions of the French government. 
Our destinies appear to me no otherwise am- 
biguous, than as they rest upon the sentiments 
which I wish to see universally predominant, — 
of cordial detestation for the profligacy, and of 
timely resistance to the machinations, of a 



3 

power, which, circumscribed by no law, and 
checked by no scruple, meditates the subjuga- 
tion of this, as well as of every other* country. 

There are, I know, many among us, whose 
predilections for French alliance, no calcula- 
tion of consequences may be effectual to sub- 
due,— but I am well satisfied, that we have a 
great majority, who need but a just sense of the 
character and effects of French despotism, to 
be induced to unite in opposing whatever at- 
tempts may be made, either by treachery or 
violence, to yoke us to the car of the common 
enemy of mankind. The well-intentioned part 
of our citizens should be taught to understand, 
that it belongs to the nature, as it is the sys- 
tematic plan, of the government of France, to 
grasp at universal dominion,-— that the evils 
which this gigantic despotism entails upon 
France herself are no less galling, than those to 
which the conquered territories are subject, — - 
that every where the luxuries of the rich, and 
the necessaries of the poor are alike assailed, — 
that we not only share with the British in the 
hatred which is cherished against them by the 



4 

Cabinet of St. Cloud, but are equally marked 
out for destruction. The details which I have 
to offer will serve to establish these positions. I 
shall commence by an inquiry into the first. 



All the writers* who have discussed the state 
of Europe before the French revolution, con- 
cur in representing France as better fitted than 
any other power for the attainment of universal 
empire. Her geographical position — the num- 
bers, the compactness, and the martial charac- 
ter of her population — the ambitious projects 
and restless intrigue of her rulers — furnished 
her eminently with the moral and physical en~ 
ergies for this purpose. The history of the con- 
tinental politics of the last century; the cor- 
respondence between the foreign ministers of 
France and their court; and particularly, the 
domestic annals of that court towards the close 
of the last reign; must convince every reflecting 
reader, that the French politicians of the day 

* See Hume — " Essay on Balance of Power." Bo- 
lingbroke — ." Sketch of the State of Europe, vol. T" 
Ancillon — " Tableau des Revolutions Politiques de 
['Europe;'* and the French writers universally. 



5 

were profoundly sensible of their advantages, 
and eagerly sought an opportunity of exerting 
them for the establishment of an unlimited con- 
trol over the continent.* The obstacles to the 
accomplishment of this end before the revolu- 
tion, are to be discovered — in the civil institu- 
tions, in certain established habits, and in the 
limited forms of government, of which France 
then partook with the rest of Europe. The ba- 
lance of power, which, for three centuries, pre- 
vented the destruction of any one independent 
state by violent means, and exhibited, before 
the dismemberment of Poland, nineteen distinct 
powers of the most unequal strength, is to be 
ascribed, not to the moderation or to the jea- 
lousy of the four great rivals, but to what may 
be termed, an equilibrium of weakness in their 
military constitutions. 



* I refer particularly to the " Politique de tous les 
Cabinets," on this subject. See in that work — « Les Con- 
jectures Raisonnees de Favier, sur la Situation actuelle 
de la France, dans le Systeme politique de PEurope."— • 
« La nation," says he, « a regne jadis sur toute l'Europ© 



6 

It was computed by the most celebrated wri- 
ters on political arithmetic, that no state could 
maintain at one time, without absolute ruin, 
more than the one hundredth part of its military 
population inarms. This arose from various cau- 
ses^ — 1st, The necessity of proportioning the 
military force, the great instrument of dominion, 
not merely to the numerical population, but to 
that which remained after every deduction in fa- 
vour of the agriculture, the commerce, the ma- 
nufactures, the luxuries, and the aristocratic 
distinctions of nations, of whose governments it 
was the chief interest and the fundamental policy 
to cultivate the arts of peace. 2d, The maxim 
universally adopted, and strictly true under the 
former circumstances of Europe — that money 
constituted the sinews of war. The extent of the 
levies and the duration of hostilities in the for- 
mer wars of the continent depended upon the 
financial resources of the belligerents. In every 
country the system of finance was more or less 
regular and equitable, and the monarch unaid- 
ed by the expedients of violence and fraud, to 
which the revolutionary governments of France 



had recourse, was compelled to accommodate 
his military efforts to the poverty of his exche- 
quer. The idea of supporting armies upon the 
territories of an enemy appears never to have 
been entertained, and could not have been car- 
ried into effect; as no one power had a decided 
superiority over the rest, such as the French 
now enjoy, in general tactics and numbers, and 
in the education and character of their troops. 
This state of things precluded the possibility 
of continuing for any length of time the mo- 
mentum necessary for permanent conquest. 
Nations of husbandmen, of artificers and manu- 
facturers, were utterly incapable of pursuing a 
regular plan, or of furnishing the means for the 
attainment of universal empire; nor could ar- 
mies, drawn from looms and forges, acquire the 
spirit or the discipline to qualify them for be- 
coming the masters of the world. 

In conjunction with these causes, the pur- 
suits of commerce, also, which became so va- 
rious and complicated after the discoveries of 
Columbus, conspired to keep the leading pow- 



ers within their proper sphere, and to prevent 
the exertion of those means by which France 
has since been enabled to shatter the strength 
and to crush the independence of the continent. 
This tragical catastrophe, of which half the 
evils have not as yet been disclosed, was, more- 
over, retarded by the mode in which the 
French armies, together with those of all the 
continental powers, were recruited. It was ob- 
vious to every reader of ancient history, that 
the conquering nations of old could never have 
achieved their purpose, without a regular code 
of military education, and unless their go- 
vernments had been invested with an unlimit- 
ed command over the population of the terri- 
tories subject to their authority. The system of 
voluntary levies is wholly incompatible with a 
plan of boundless aggrandizement, and it was 
therefore general Jourdan exultingly declared 
to the convention, when they enacted the ty- 
rannical law of the requisition — " that the mo- 
"■ ment they pronounced the compulsory levy 
" en masse to be permanent, they decreed the 
" power of the republic to be imperishable." 



9 

Such were the shackles by which France was 
fettered until the period of her revolution, and 
from which she was released by that extraor- 
dinary event. Mr. Burke ascribes it, in some 
measure, to an impatience on the part of her 
politicians to see themselves engaged without 
impediment in the career of conquest.* It is, 
however, unnecessary for us to investigate the 
causes to which the first eruptions of the revo- 
lutionary volcano are to be traced; but, in order 
to understand the character of the imperial go- 
vernment, it may be useful to examine what 
were the facilities with which she was furnish- 
ed for the subjugation of the continent by the 
destruction of her monarchy and of her old in- 
stitutions. Whenever I review this topic, to me 
it is no longer a subject of astonishment, that 
the nations of the continent were found so brit- 
tle; and that France has effectuated nearly as 
much within a few years, as the Romans were 
able to accomplish in as many centuries. 

* Regicide Peace, p, 159. 163, 171, 179. 

B 



10 

By the revolution her relative situation was 
totally changed. One of its first effects was the 
destruction of all those interests by which the 
old government, in common with the rest of 
Europe, was influenced and checked. While 
the other states of the continent continued to 
revolve in the orbits in which their maxims and 
habits retained them — France was loosened, as 
it were, from the political firmament, and pre- 
pared to pursue any direction, or to receive any 
impulse, which her new rulers might choose to 
give. In the decomposition of the original mass, 
materials were found for the construction of a 
new system, retaining the invigorating elements 
of the old, but shaped from the models of anti- 
quity, and endued with a distempered energy, 
more formidable than any degree of strength 
of which the constitution of the latter was at 
any time susceptible. It was predicted, many 
years before, by a writer who had diligently 
studied the military establishments of modern 
Europe, " that the continent would be speedily 
" enslaved, should a nation, with the resources 
" of France, break through the forms and tram- 



11 

M mels of the civil constitutions of the period; 
" shake off fiscal solicitudes by a general bank- 
" ruptcy; turn her attention exclusively to mi- 
" litary affairs; and organize a regular plan of 
" universal empire."* Such precisely was the 
position of France, when, after the first years of 
the revolution, she had formed an immense 
military force, and the course of events had 
lodged an omnipotent authority in the hands of 
a body of enthusiastic and ambitious theorists, 

* Guibert. Essai de Tactique. Sir James Steuart has 
a curious passage on this subject. He supposes a case 
precisely similar, and concludes with the following re- 
marks: " I ask, what combination, among the modern 
European princes, would carry on a successful war 
against such a people? What article would be wanting to 
their subsistence? And what country would defend them- 
selves against the attack of such an enemy? Such a sys- 
tem of political economy, I readily grant, is not likely to 
take place: but, if ever it did, would it not effectually 
dash to pieces the whole fabric of trade and industry, 
which has been forming for so many years? And would 
it not quickly oblige every other nation to adopt, as far 
as possible, a similar conduct, from a principal of self- 
preservation? (Political Econ, B.2. C. 13.) 



12 

who completely realized this view of things, and 
whom experience soon taught the truth of a 
maxim of Livy, so well confirmed by the events 
of the present time, — that in war there are but 
three essential requisites, " good soldiers, good 
" officers, and good fortune." 

Whoever attends to the progress of the 
French power, must be satisfied that it is not 
the work of chance; but, in a great degree, the 
result of a deliberate project for the subjuga- 
tion of Europe, framed and acted upon even 
before the reign of the Directory. The conclu- 
sions which an attentive consideration of this 
subject had led me to adopt, were sanctioned 
by the acknowledgment of all the actors in the 
scene of the revolution, with whom I had occa- 
sion to converse in Paris. They drew from the 
history of the commonwealths of antiquity 
those arts of fraud and menace, of violence and 
seduction, by which the latter were enabled to 
beguile the weakness, to ensnare the cupidity, 
to confound the judgment, and to overpower 
the fortitude of mankind. The archives of the 



Assyrian and Macedonian, of the Greek and 
Roman conquests, were and still are diligently 
searched, for precedents in the art of combining 
cunning with force. The inveterate habits of 
intrigue — the vanity and ductility, which have 
always marked the national character — are all 
confederated for one grand and successful ex- 
periment, — that of trying, whether the master- 
springs of human conduct are not at all times 
the same: whether, with a deep knowledge of 
the temper of the age, with a congenial spirit and 
augmented means, the same principles and mea- 
sures, skilfully adapted to circumstances, will 
not give the same results. 

The world has seen with how strong and 
steady an impetus, they have urged the accom- 
plishment of their views — and with what over- 
whelming rapidity of execution, they have de- 
molished the public law and the liberties of Eu~ 
rope. In the boldness with which they conceiv- 
ed, in the vigour with which they have perpe- 
trated, their criminal enterprises, — in the splen- 
dour and variety of their military achievements, 



14 

— in the evils which they have inflicted upon the 
miserable victims of their power, — they have far 
exceeded all the examples furnished by the re* 
cords of antiquity. Combining the subtlety of 
the Roman senate and the ferocity of the Goth,. 
— the wildest passions with the most deliberate 
perfidy, — discarding, both in their domestic ad- 
ministration and their foreign policy, the feel- 
ings of nature, the obligations of conscience, 
the ties of friendship, the sense of honor, — they 
drenched France, as well as the rest of the con- 
tinent, in tears and blood, and have left not even 
the consolation of hope to those who examine 
attentively the present condition of Europe. 
The works of Livy and Sallust, and the com- 
mentaries of Machiavel and Montesqu ieu , disco- 
ver the closest parallel between the French and 
Roman conquerors — in the structure of their 
military system, in the progress of their arms, 
and in the tenor of their deportment towards 
allies and enemies. I have been powerfully 
struck with this similitude, but I should do in- 
justice to the memory of the Roman republic, 
if I instituted a comparison, as to the character 



15 

of the instruments, by whom their conquests 
were achieved. The ruffian horde now preying 
on the carcase of Europe, bears no more ana- 
logy to " the solemn and sacred militia" of the 
Romans,* than the convention bore to that body 
which Cicero has ventured to denominate, 
" the temple of sanctity and the refuge of all 
" nations."! 

To me it has always appeared, that the 
French, from the first dawnings of their revo- 
lution, were more favourably situated than the 
Romans for the attainment of universal em- 
pire. The obstacles in the way of the latter 
were more formidable, and vanquished with 
more difficulty. In the first stages of their pro- 
gress, they had to contend against nations who 
possessed military and civil institutions supe- 
rior to their own, and whom they overcame 
only by adopting the excellences of all. In 

* Solemnis et sacra Romanorum militia. (Livy.) 

t (Senatus) Templum Sanctitatis, caput urbis, are 
sociorum, portus omnium gentium, (Cicero.) 



16 

the extension of their empire beyond the lim- 
its of Italy, they encountered, even from the 
barbarians, a vigorous and persevering resist- 
ance, inspired by the love of freedom, anima- 
ted by the most determined hate, and support- 
ed by the most perfect unanimity. A barba- 
rous militia, such as that which the Germans, 
the Thracians, and the Scythians opposed to 
the progress of their conquerors, is ^pronoun 
ced by Dr. Smith in his Wealth of Nations, to 
be more capable of defence than the standing 
armies of modern times, considered in their 
relation to the institutions of the period at 
which he wrote. 

The French republic, " cradled in war," en~ 
joyed, ab origine, an irresistible superiority 
over the nations of the continent. The latter had 
to contend, at the same time, against external 
attack, and against the danger of internal com- 
motion, arising from the diffusion of jacobin- 
ism. Those of the south were at the mercy of 
the first invader. Their armies wanted both the 
courage which supplies the place of discipline. 



17 

and the discipline which compensates for the 
absence of courage. The states of Germany 
and of the North never appreciated duly the 
character or the perils of the new war in which 
they found themselves engaged. It was no 
longer a contest about " the hoisting or lower- 
ing of a sail," or about " little carvings and 
partitions;' ' to be waged with irresolute and 
improvident councils, and to be terminated by 
timid and shuffling negotiation. As modern 
Europe had never known an universal domin- 
ion, they could not imagine a possibility of 
the conception or of the execution of such a 
plan. A certain association of ideas had be- 
come habitual, and was viewed with too much 
favour to be broken upon the faith of any pre- 
diction. To form, what the new state of things 
required, — new combinations, — by which all 
their hereditary prejudices and useful antipathies, 
and the whole scheme of northern policy, were 
to be at once exploded, was an effort which the 
gigantic strides of their enemy have not as yet 
sufficed to extort. The power of the repub- 
lic was at first despised as a mere phantasma- 

C 



18 

goria, and at length regarded with sentiments of 
despondency and dismay, which enfeebled eve- 
ry exertion. Nothing, indeed, but a total revo- 
lution in the internal constitutions of the other 
states could have prepared them to meet France 
on equal terms, — with a military system yield- 
ing an inexhaustible supply of men, and a code 
of principles alike destructive to their domes- 
tic interests and to the general prosperity of 
Europe. 



Throughout all the changes of government 
which France has undergone, there has been 
an unbroken continuity of views and charac- 
ter. The power of Bonaparte is the mere off- 
spring of the genius and necessities of the re- 
public. He assumed the reins of authority at 
a crisis when it was necessary to commit them 
to a single hand, and under circumstances 
which admitted of no other rule than that of an 
enterprising military chief. I have been told 
by some of those who planned the revolution 



19 

of the 18th Brumaire, that the consular powec 
was first tendered to Moreau; but that, on the 
unexpected arrival of Bonaparte from Egypt, 
the former designated him as a more suitable 
instrument for their purpose. It is not to the 
character and talents alone of the present ruler, 
however well adapted to his station, that we are 
to ascribe the career which France has run 
since his accession. I insist the more on this 
consideration, because it leads to important 
conclusions. " The swing and impulse" 
were already given. He did but move in con- 
cert with the regular march, and can scarcely 
be said to have outstripped the inherent ala- 
crity of the system which he was selected to 
administer. He has, indeed, adjusted all the 
parts, — strengthened the springs, — and mono- 
polized the government, of this colossal engine 
of conquest, with a degree of skill and ener- 
gy like that with which the Jupiter of the fable 
is said to have usurped and wielded the em- 
pire of Saturn. But he and his immediate 
predecessors were conquerors from necessity 
as well as from choice. To disband the armies 



20 

would have been an act of political suicide, and 
was in itself utterly impossible. It was no less 
impossible to maintain them within the limits 
of the French territory. Exclusive of other 
considerations, the state of their finances pre- 
sented an insuperable obstacle to the latter al- 
ternative. The regular receipts of the treasury 
were altogether insufficient for the expense. 
They had irretrievably deprived themselves of 
the resources of credit and of paper circula- 
tion; and although, according to an idea of Mr. 
Burke, a savage and disorderly people will 
suffer a robbery with more patience than an 
impost^ the expedients of violence could not 
have been available in a country completely 
ruined and exhausted. It is easy to show, 
from the representations of their own finan- 
ciers, that no device of fiscal alchymy 
would have furnished the means of supporting 
the armies in the interior, — and that foreign 
plunder was, therefore, a necessary resource. 
It will be seen, from what I shall state hereaf- 
ter on the subject of the finances of the em- 
pire, that the same connexion continues to 
subsist between them and the military system. 



21 

" A prince," says Machiavel, " should have 
" no other design, nor thought, nor study, than 
" war." The extraordinary being who now go- 
verns France, is compelled to adhere to this 
maxim, — not only by the efficacy of habit and 
predilection, but from a consciousness that he 
cannot otherwise preserve his dominion. As 
the supremacy of the French power depends 
upon the military organization of the empire, — 
the existence of an emperor hangs upon the 
support of the armies. With Bonaparte, there- 
fore, every measure of internal administration 
is but collateral to the main object. To be be- 
loved in the interior is not his aim, and unfor- 
tunately not his chief interest. He knows that 
in a monarchy, from which the principle of ho- 
nour is banished, the tie of obligation is mise- 
rably weak, unless strengthened by the appre- 
hensions of fear. At this moment the only 
measure of authority throughout the whole em- 
pire, is force. In the course of my remarks, I 
was in no respect more astonished than in ob- 
serving, how completely the revolution has ex- 



. 22 

tinguished every principle of civil subordina- 
tion. 

The superiority of privileges, the lustre of 
titles, and the substantial fruits of conquest, are 
chiefly lavished on the generals; but still he has 
not forgotten another principle of Machiavel,— 
that men of influence and intrigue are to be 
conciliated by benefits, whatever may be the 
degree of oppression exercised over the mass 
of the people. The civil dignitaries, therefore, 
are not without an ample provision, — although 
he has cautiously abstained from investing them 
with such hereditary or corporate immunities 
as might restrain, while they would conduce to 
secure, the authority of the sovereign. His per- 
sonal character is well suited to the difficulties 
of his station. His military renown has an efful- 
gence brighter than that of any of his gene- 
rals, and has acquired for him the entire confi- 
dence of the soldiery. He has no scandalous 
undisguised vices, or periodical weaknesses, 
calculated to diminish with the armies the force 
of his reputation, or to counteract the ascend- 



23 

ancy of his genius.* The restless activity of 
his ambition, the comprehensive boldness of 
his plans, and the uninterrupted succession of 
great enterprizes in which he is engaged, serve 
to remove domestic perils, in adding to the 
strength and majesty of the throne. No leisure 
is given for machinations in the interior,— no 
scope for ambitious projects among the leaders 
of the army. His subjects are kept in constant 
admiration and suspense. Splendid achieve- 
ments and undistinguishing pillage constitute 

* I must be understood here as alluding- to his military 
character. In every other respect there is as little moral 
as there is political prudery about one, who combines ma- 
ny of the worst, and apparently opposite qualities of our 
nature — 

cui tristia bella 
Ira que, insidiague, et crimina noxia cordi. 
His " splendid wickedness," however, appears to have 
overpowered and dazzled the imaginations of men, and 
rather to have conciliated favour than raised abhorrence. 
We may suspect that even with republicans, the lustre 
of the imperial throne has not lost all its efficacy in " sha- 
dowing" crimes — ■ 

e tu ben sai que l'ombra 
D'un trono e grancle per coprir delitti. 



24 

the necessary policy, as well as the natural 
and favourite pursuit of " the modern Charle- 
magne.' y 

Throughout all France, the note of military 
preparation drowns every other indication of 
activity — and the thirst of conquest appears to 
supersede every other desire. In the capital, all 
the faculties of thought and action which either 
individuals or public bodies can furnish in aid 
of the general design, are applied and disci- 
plined with a regular and effective subservien- 
cy, which to me was truly astonishing. I found 
on all sides, an unity of views, — an activity in 
planning and systematizing the devices of am- 
bition, — an eagerness for the issue, and a san- 
guine assurance of success, — almost incredible, 
and more like the effects of revolutionary 
frenzy, than those of a concert between the 
insatiable ambition of an audacious tyrant and 
the active talents and natural propensities of a 
body of trembling slaves. From the com- 
mencement of the revolution particularly, emis- 
saries have been scattered over Europe in order 



25 

to study and delineate its geographical face. 
The harvest of their labours, now deposited in 
Paris, has furnished the imperial government 
with a knowledge of the territory of the other 
powers, much more minute and accurate than 
that which the latter themselves possess. The 
Depot de la Guerre occupies, unremittingly, se- 
veral hundred clerks in tracing maps and col- 
lecting topographical details, to minister to the 
military purposes of the government. All the 
great estates of Spain were marked and parcel- 
led out long before the last invasion of that 
country, — and it is not too much to affirm, that 
those of England are equally well known and 
already partitioned. 

The idea of unlimited sway is studiously 
kept before the public mind, — and the future 
empire of France over the nations of the earth, 
exultingly proclaimed, in all the songs of the 
theatres and in public discourses of every de- 
scription. Even the gaunt and ragged beings, 
who prowl about the streets and infest the night - 

D 



26 

cellars of Paris; — the famished outcasts, — many 
of whom are men of decent exterior and ad- 
vanced age, beggared by the revolution, — who 
haunt the Boulevards and public gardens, in 
order to enjoy, under the rays of the sun, that 
enlivening warmth which their poverty denies 
them at home, — and who, by their wan and me- 
lancholy aspect, excite the horror and compas- 
sion of a stranger — all appear to forget, for a mo- 
ment, their own miseries, in anticipating the bril- 
liant destinies of the empire, and contemplating 
Paris, in prospective, as the metropolis of the 
world. The inhabitants of the country and of 
the provincial cities, — whose condition the war 
renders miserable beyond description, and who 
secretly invoke the bitterest curses on their ru- 
lers, — are, nevertheless, (for such is the character 
of this extraordinary people) not without their 
share in the general avidity for power; and, 
when the sense of their wretchedness does not 
press too strongly upon them, can even consent 
to view the extension of the national influence 
and renown in the light of a personal benefit. 



27 



The French emperor appears to me to have 
formed a just estimate of the nature and extent 
of his power in his foreign — as well as in his do- 
mestic relations. While his armies, the irresisti- 
ble instruments of his will, remain entire, he is 
satisfied that the standard of revolt cannot be 
successfully raised either abroad or at home. 
He disregards, therefore, the mere murmurs of 
discontent, and is careless about the individual 
distress or the general calamities to which the 
execution of his plans may lead. As long as he 
retains the troops at his devotion, and waves his 
victorious banners over the strongest parts of 
Europe, — he sees that no combination can be 
formed against him, which he may not instan- 
taneously dissolve. " History proves," says 
Mably, " that when once a nation becomes 
" greatly superior to its enemies in strength, it 
" is possible for it to be detested by the whole 
" world and yet successful in its enterprizes." 
The reader has but to consult the pages of Po- 



28 

lybius and the declamations of Cicero* to 
learn what were the calamities to which the Ro- 
mans subjected the territories brought under 
their yoke, and in what detestation they were 
generally held. Insurrections were constantly 
bursting forth in the distant provinces, — but 
served only to rivet the adamantine chains of the 
conquered, and to open fresh sources of plun- 
der to the conquerors. It is these that Machia- 
vel counsels a military usurper to provoke, in 
order " to strengthen his own greatness and to 
obtain colorable pretexts for rapine, "f Partial 

* Difficile est dictu, quanto in odio simus apud exteras 
nationes propter ec-rum, quos ad eos per hos annos cum 
imperio misimus, injurias ac libidines. Quod enim sanum 
putatis in illis terris nostris magistratibus religiosum, 
quam civitatem sanctam, quam domum satis clausam ac 
munitam fuisse? (Pro leg. Manil. cap. 22. art. 65.) Lu- 
gent omnes provinciae: queruntur omnes liberi populi; 
regnadenique jam omnia de nostris cupiditatibus et inju- 
riis expostulant: locus intra oceanum jam nullus est 
neque tarn longinquus, neque tarn reconditus, quo, non, 
per haec tempora, nostrorum hpminum libido, iniquitas- 
que pervaserit (in Verr. Action. 2. lib. 3. cap. 89.) — 
See also, Polybius, 9th B. for an account of the exac- 
tions of Rome. And, Livy, 1. viii. xi. 8c x. 

f Princ. cap. xx. 



29 

risings in Italy or in the North of Germany will 
but contribute in this way to the plans of Bona- 
parte. The tumultuary defence of the Spani- 
ards, and the swaggering of the Portuguese, 
will be scarcely more formidable. He strikes 
at the centre or heart of the adverse power, and 
is sure that the extremities will speedily yield. 
He knows generally, that a monarch, whose 
power puts him beyond the dread of invasion, 
has it in his election when to wage war or to 
make peace, — and that the final success of a na- 
tion like France is secured by the relation, 
which an established system draws closer 
every day) between her military organization 
and her social and political constitution. I shall 
now proceed to pass in review his conduct to- 
wards Spain and the Northern powers, in order 
to make the true spirit of his government the 
more apparent. The ideas which I shall submit 
to you relative to the weakness of those pow- 
ers, will serve to confirm my position — that 
the continent is not sinking under the ascen- 
dant of his military genius alone, but under 



30 

the colossal weight of the empire which he 
wields. 



Of all the usurpations which history records, 
there is none more odious for systematic per- 
fidy in the plan, or more shocking for uncolour- 
ed violence in the execution, than that which 
we have recently witnessed in the case of Spain. 
There was so awful a warning in this event, — it 
was calculated to impart so irresistible a con- 
viction of the true character and views of the 
French government, — that it is, at first, not easy 
to conceive, how it could have failed to light 
into a flame every spark of feeling or energy 
which remained to the nations of the earth. 
But the usurper knew too well the force of that 
potent spell in which he has bound Europe to 
be deterred by this apprehension. He was 
equally well apprized of the resources and dis- 
position of the people he was about to attack; 
and if his attempt has not as yet fully succeed- 
ed, it is not on account of a misapprehension 
of consequences on his part. 



31 

More than two years ago, during my resi- 
dence in Paris, I had occasion to know that 
this plan was in agitation. It was a common 
topic of conversation, that the Bourbons were 
to be dethroned in that country, and a Bona- 
parte introduced in their stead. This specula- 
tion was usually accompanied by a prophe- 
cy concerning the inevitable fall of Austria. 
All this, too, at a moment, when both nations 
were in alliance with France, — when Spain, 
which Mr. Burke, in the time of the Directory, 
denominated a fief of regicide, was to be con- 
sidered, in every political calculation, as a part 
of the resources of France. This trait alone is 
sufficient to evince the profligacy of her politi- 
cians, and the sense which they entertain of the 
character of their government. They spoke of the 
necessity of regenerating Spain, as the Roman 
historians, who lived under Caligula and Do- 
mitian, speak with compassionate indignation 
of the slavery in which the Barbarians were 
held! For three years previous to the seizure 
of the royal family, Spain was deluged with 
French emissaries, commissioned to prepare 
the minds of the people for the event — and with 



32 

French engineers and draughtsmen, who were 
openly engaged in mapping the face of the 
country, in examining the strong holds, and in 
exploring the locality and amount of the spoil 
which they expected to seize. 

Beauharnais, the elder brother of the first 
husband of the Empress, was then sent as mi- 
nister to Madrid, in order to prepare the de- 
velopment of the plan. I had some acquaint- 
ance with this gentleman, and was enabled to 
observe the great anxiety which his govern- 
ment displayed on the subject of his mission. 
For more than a month he was constantly on 
the eve of departure, — but was delayed from 
week to week on account of the new delibera- 
tions and arrangements which daily occurred. 
Beauharnais, although intrepid and positive, is 
of a mild and humane character, — and was sur- 
named the inflexible, at the commencement of 
the revolution, in consequence of his steady 
adherence to the royal cause. He was either 
found too scrupulous for his station, or recoil- 
ed altogether from a cooperation in the crime; 
and, as I have since understood, was soon su- 



33 

perseded by a more remorseless agent. The 
original plan was, to transport the royal family 
of Spain to South America, and to seize upon 
the crown as a derelict. This scheme, upon the 
advantages of which it would be needless to ex- 
patiate, was to be accomplished, as circum- 
stances might dictate, either with or without 
the assistance of the British. The consent of 
Charles and his queen was obtained, but the 
opposition of Ferdinand and his counsellors in- 
tercepted their flight, and excited among the 
populace, to whom their intention was disclos- 
ed, the alarm which led to the first commotions 
at Aranjuez. The immense force which Bona- 
parte introduced, clearly proves, that he fore- 
saw the possibility of the subsequent convul- 
sions throughout Spain, and had made every 
provision against them which prudence could 
suggest. If the detention of Ferdinand, when 
lured into his toils by the blandishments of 
pretended friendship, shows that there are no 
refinements of dissimulation or artifices of perfi- 
dy of which he is not capable, — the massacre of 
three hundred innocent victims, whom Murat, 

E 



34 

the day after the tumult of the 2d of May, 
caused to be grouped together and shot by his 
soldiery, in the principal square of Madrid, 
equally demonstrates, that there is no excess of 
barbarity, however atrocious, from which he 
would shrink in the prosecution of his views.* 

We must not suppose that Bonaparte was 
prompted to invade Spain, solely by the fever- 
ish restlessness of his spirit, and the desire of 
aggrandizing his family. He was guided by 
other powerful incitements, of which the most 
prominent were these: — 1st, To gratify that un- 
cxtinguishable hate which he cherishes against 
the whole race of the Bourbons — 2d, To col- 

* I had this fact from an eyewitness, one of the first 
deputies from Spain to the government of England. Don 
Andres de la Vega, to whom I allude, merited the most 
implicit 'faith, and conciliated, by his genius and his 
love of country, the highest respect from all those who 
knew him. He was a lawyer of Asturias before the pre- 
sent struggle in Spain, and deserved the eulogium which 
Cicero passes upon Quintus Scevola — that he was the 
most eloquent of the learned, and the most learned of the 
eloquent. " Juris peritorum eloquentissimus — eloquenti- 
um juris peritissimus." 



35 

lect an immediate and considerable booty, and 
thus to provide a new fund for the supply of 
his officers and soldiers* — 3d, To obtain more 
complete possession of the naval means which 
Spain could furnish, for the promotion of his 
designs on England. Although he might have 
preferred the unmolested occupation of her 
government and resources, the chance of resis- 
tance was not to be regretted, according to his 
scheme of aggression. Had the people crouch- 
ed to receive the oppressive dominion of their 
invaders, even the shadow of a pretext would 
have been wanting for that system of confisca- 
tion, of robbery, and of proscription, which he 

* Sir Francis D'lvernois, speaking of the employment 
given to the French armies by the Directory, in hi£ 
" Historical Survey," has the following passage, " Pef- 
" haps they will order them to Madrid before they at- 
" tempt a passage over the Danube; but still the respite 
u cannot be long. Were the plan executed as soon as 
" the Republican armies had circumscribed the king of 
" Spain within his American possessions, they would be 
" the better able to cope with the whole of Germany. It 
" is with the plate of the churches of Toledo that thej 
" would make themselves master* of theminei of Krem- 
" nitz and the Hartz ." 



36 

may now pursue, under colour of chastising 
rebellion. In the true spirit of a rapacious ty- 
rant, he would willingly have made the crimi- 
nal, in order to punish the crime. The founda- 
tions of his throne may be more immovably 
laid in the blood, than in the tame submission 
of the Spaniards. No mind will be found to 
stand erect, after the wretched experience of 
this struggle, in the midst of those horrible 
ruins which his triumph will leave, — and which 
by the terror they must inspire, will break 
down whatever elasticity of spirit may yet en- 
dure, either in Spain or in the other countries 
dependent on his nod. 

Spain, when crushed by the weight of his 
arms, will, conformably to his menace, be treat- 
ed as a conquered country, and declared the 
legitimate prey of the great nation, — to whose 
lenity she will be said to have forfeited all title, 
by obstinately resisting the accomplishment of 
his benevolent views. The denunciation alrea- 
dy hurled against the opulent grandees, and the 
division of their estates among his officers, are 



but the first steps in that career of regeneration 
which Spain, so foolishly reluctant, is to run 
under the mild and wholesome sway of her 
philanthropic invaders. I have seen among us, 
men of no mean understanding, who view the 
abolition of the inquisition and the suppression 
of the convents, as resulting from that hatred 
for tyranny and superstition by which Bona- 
parte has always been marked — and who, if they 
had lived in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 
would no doubt have given him credit for the 
same motive, when he abolished the religious 
foundations of his kingdom, and emptied their 
wealth into the royal coffers. The modern 
champion of religious and political freedom 
has, however, done more,— and, in an article of 
the constitution allotted to Spain, has substitu- 
ted for the inquisition, — a police, — in a!*nost all 
respects similar to that of Paris, and hatched 
under the same incubation. 

During my residence in England, my atten- 
tion was earnestly drawn to whatever was said 
or written on the subject of Spain; particularly 



38 

after the commencement of the present contest. 
I enjoyed frequent opportunities of conversing 
with many of the most intelligent officers who 
embarked in the first expedition, and with seve- 
ral who visited that country, for the purpose of 
ascertaining the true grounds upon which the 
public expectation was to rest. The result of all 
my inquiries fortified me in the conclusion to 
which the character of the invader naturally 
led, — that he had formed but too just an estimate 
of the weakness and languor of the Spaniards. 
Two centuries ago, the house of Austria left 
Spain in a state of inconceivable wretchedness 
and decay. Under the two first monarchs of 
the Bourbon race, Philip the Fifth and Ferdi- 
nand, some little progress was made in resusci- 
tating this once powerful nation. During the 
last reign the degree of improvement, although 
small, justified a belie/ that she might, without 
any general convulsion or the total abolition of 
the old government, be raised to the level of the 
other commonwealths of Europe. But still 
Spain was an inert mass, — a nerveless country, 
as Mr. Burke denominated her: — *of all others 



39 

the most disorderly in her civil, the weakest in 
her military constitution: — without the use, but 
suffering the extreme abuse of a nobility:-*— 
with inveterate habits of submission to the 
most enfeebling excesses of religious and poli- 
tical tyranny. Her population was on the de- 
crease. Her regular army, at the period of 
Bonaparte's invasion, scarcely amounted to 
forty thousand effective men, and she was alto- 
gether destitute of a system for the production 
of a national force of any other description. The 
only element of resistance which remained, — the 
sole principle of animation, — was that deeply 
rooted hatred to their enemy, which pervaded 
almost all orders of men, and of which the 
French government was fully aware.* Com- 
bined with other impulses, this no doubt has 
great efficacy; but the experience of mankind 
too clearly evinces, that it is not a motive of 

* Favier, in his " Conjectures Raisdnnees," contained 
in the " Politique de tous les Cabinets," commences a 
chapter on the subject of Spain in this way, " De la haine 
" nationale contre les Francois," and dwells with great 
indignation on the « blind and stupid hatred'* entertained 
so universally by the Spaniards against his countrymen. 



40 

action, or a bond of union, sufficiently perma- 
nent and potent, to bear up an oppressed nation 
against a great disparity of strength and skill. 

When the British forces marched into Spain, 
they found — what such considerations as these 
might have taught them to expect — here and 
there tumultuary assemblages, but no appear- 
ance whatever of regular military movements; 
and so far were they from discovering a dispo- 
sition in the people to cooperate in the task 
of their own deliverance, that ihey experienced 
in their retreat greater inconvenience from the 
hostility of the Spanish peasantry, than from 
the pursuit of the foe. The letters of Sir John 
Moore, and the representations of the English 
travellers,, who examined the state of the coun- 
try, are precisely of the same tenor. An efferves- 
cence was almost every where excited, — but was 
allowed to evaporate in empty boast and menaces. 
Treachery and fear marked the conduct of the 
higher classes; who, by their example disarmed 
the passions, while they counteracted the efforts 
of the multitude. The juntas were almost uni- 



41 

versally bodies of inactive, illiterate, formalizing 
men; without the magnanimity to conceive, or 
the courage to execute, any prompt, comprehen- 
sive and hardy plan of operations. Great credit is 
unquestionably due to the defence of Saragossa, 
and to the spirit manifested by some few of the 
privileged orders, and by most of the profes- 
sional men. But I think it must be apparent, 
upon an attentive survey of the history of this 
struggle, — that the exertions of the Spaniards 
were by no means commensurate with the ex- 
tent of their physical resources, nor such as 
would for any time have frustrated the designs 
of Bonaparte, had not the Austrian war inter- 
posed to break the force of his attack. The 
English ministry committed errors in their 
mode of cooperation, of which they must now 
heartily repent. In attempting to rouse the moral 
energies of the country, they made their appeal 
to the prejudices of slavery and fanaticism, — 
when, in such a cause, " the soul of freedom"* 

* " Slaves that once conceive the glowing thought 
« Of Freedom, in that hope itself possess 
" All that the contest calls for; spirit, strength, 

« The 

F 



42 

and a deep steady feeling of self-interest in the 
minds of the people, were the only auxiliaries 
fitted to supply the absence of skill and disci- 
pline. Instead of sending their armies to meet 
the invader at the bottom of the Pyrenees, they 
despatched them to a distant theatre of action; 
— not to the centre of the danger, but to the cir- 
cumference, where nothing finally decisive 
could be effected, even with the most complete 
success. They had before their eyes a long 
succession of similar events to teach the neces- 
sity of vigorous and unhesitating exertion. It 
required neither the hind of Sertorius nor the 
nymph of Scipio to instruct them in what 
manner the war was to be conducted by their 
antagonist. 



In commenting thus on what I suppose to 
have been the errors of the British cabinet, I 
would not be understood as intending to im- 

" The scorn of danger and united hearts, 
" The surest presage of the good they seek/' 

Cowper. 



43 

peach their motives. I was in England at the 
commencement of the Spanish struggle, and 
witnessed the progress of public sentiment on 
this subject, — not only in the capital, but in al- 
most every part of the country. Never did 
any nation exhibit a more sublime and edify- 
ing spectacle, or an elevation of character so 
perfectly coordinate with the lofty eminence 
on which she was placed by this unexpected 
event. Whatever calculations of interest may 
have been indulged in the councils of the min- 
istry, — and with them, they were, I believe, 
altogether secondary, — none were to be disco- 
vered in the spontaneous soaring and eager 
compassion of the mass of the nation. Indigna- 
tion at the unparalleled wrongs, — sympathy for 
the cruel sufferings of the Spaniards, — alone 
animated every class of this generous and high- 
minded people, and called forth an enthusiasm 
not less ardent, than if they themselves had 
been the victims. Queen Elizabeth and her 
subjects did not feel or display a more lively 
resentment, when the courts of France and 
Spain conspired at Bayonne to assail her do- 



44 

minions and subvert her throne, than did the 
English of the present day, at the similar pro- 
jects concerted in the same city, against Spain, 
— so long the willing instrument of the schemes 
projected for their own destruction. 

On the arrival of the first deputies from As- 
turias, the country was thrown into an abso- 
lute delirium of hope and joy,- — not on account 
of any advantages which might accrue to En- 
gland from the incipient struggle, — but because 
from the deepest obscurity of the gloom that 
overspread the continent, a ray of light had 
broke forth, which promised to illuminate the 
whole political horizon; — and because a pros- 
pect was at length afforded of avenging the 
rights of justice and humanity, on the very 
theatre where they had been most shamefully 
violated and abused. In the whole course of 
this national emotion, there was something 
cheering and ennobling for those who still va- 
lue the dignity of our species, and eminently 
consolatory for one like myself, who, having 
seen but the present state of mankind, might 



45 

have regarded the cases which history records, 
of the heroic devotion of states, as mere fab- 
ulous declamation, or admired the models 
which she presents, only in the light of a phi- 
losophical romance. 

There are various instances in the annals of 
the world, of nations, oppressed either by fo- 
reign or domestic foes, claiming relief from the 
magnanimity of a powerful people; and in those 
of England herself, the most remarkable, per- 
haps, are to be found: — When Elizabeth, called 
upon to assert the laws of justice, and with sub- 
jects clamorous for the gratuitous interference 
of her power, exerted it to secure the indepen- 
dence of Holland, and to rescue the Netherlands 
from the desolating tyranny of the duke of 
Alva: *■ — When William, become the sole refuge 
of the north of Europe, and seconded by the 
generous sympathies and enlarged wisdom of 
his people, frustrated the ambitious projects of 

* See the eloquent passage of Bolingbroke on the con- 
duct of Elizabeth, in this instance, 19th vol. Political 
Works, Letter 13th. 



46 

France, and rendered England, according to 
the expression of Mr. Burke, the arbitress of 
Europe, and the tutelary angel of the human 
race. But whatever may have been her eleva- 
tion at those periods, the attitude in which she 
stood, when Spain first implored succour from 
her generosity, was infinitely more grand and 
imposing, than any in which her own annals or 
those of the world exhibit any nation whatever. 
The nature of the contest which she has so long 
waged — the melancholy condition of the conti- 
nent* — the relation in which Spain before stood 

* " Where, sunk by many a wound, heroic states 
" Mourn in the dust, and tremble at the frown 
" Of hard ambition: where the gen'rous band 
" Of youths, who fought for freedom and their sires, 
" Lie side by side in blood: where brutal force 
" Usurps the throne of justice, turns the pomp 
" Of guardian power, the majesty of rule, 
" The sword, the laurel, and the purple robe,, 
" To poor dishonest pageants, to adorn 
" A robber's walk, and glitter in the eyes 
a Of such as bow the knee." 
Akenside, who drew this picture from his imagination, 
little thought that it would be so soon realized. The con- 
duct of his countrymen with regard to Spain, would alone 
enable them to apply to themselves another passage of 



47 

in her regard — the cruel wrongs and the mise- 
rable weakness of the suppliants — the import- 
ance of the ends to be achieved by the success- 
ful exertion of her strength — all gave an interest 
to this conjuncture, which no posture of human 
affairs, or vicissitude of fortune, was ever be- 
fore calculated to inspire. Both the government 
and the people corresponded, by the exuberance 
of their succours, to the liberal and disinterest- 
ed zeal, with which they embraced the Spanish 
cause, and completed a picture, upon which 
mankind will hereafter love to dwell. I saw the 
effect which it produced upon the deputies, 
who were welcomed as if they had been deli- 
verers — not suppliants. They frequently shed 
tears of gratitude and joy, and appeared to be 



the poet, in relation to those whose souls can repine at 
this « big distress:" 

" The dregs corrupt 
" Of barbarous ages, that Circean draught 
" Of servitude and folly, have not yet, 
" (Bless'd be th' eternal Ruler of the world!) 
" Yet have not so dishonour'd and deform'd 
" The native judgment of the human soul, 
" Nor so defaced the image of her Sire." 



48 

more overpowered by the nature of their recep- 
tion, than by the contemplation of that unrivaU 
led scene of public and individual felicity, — that 
vigor and i ndependence of mind , — and those mo- 
ral and political institutions, — which place Eng- 
land so far above every other European coun- 
try in the scale of excellence. 



The fate of Spain was deferred by the un- 
expected resolution of Austria to risk another 
contest in order to preserve her existence! I say 
unexpected; — because it could not have belong- 
ed to the plans of Bonaparte to attack the one, 
until the other was subdued. The plunder and 
additional reputation of strength to be drawn 
from the acquisition of Spain, were to facili- 
tate the destruction of the Austrian monarchy, 
and the prosecution of his designs on the north. 
It was utterly impossible for the Austrian ca- 
binet to have remained ignorant of his views. 
They were disclosed after the peace of Til- 
sit without reserve. The declarations of im- 



49 

placable hostility were uniform and positive, — 
and the demands upon Austria, such as we 
have seen them stated in her last manifesto, of 
a nature to render the ulterior plan altogether 
unequivocal.* By that sort of infatuation on 
the subject of France, which in almost every 
country has operated like the spells of sorcery, 
the people of Germany, however, were not sen- 

* Cevallos relates, that in an interview between him- 
self and the Emperor of France at Bayonne, the latter 
frequently interrogated him concerning the length of 
time which might be necessary for the entire subjuga- 
tion of Spain. On being told that three months would be 
sufficient, he displayed considerable emotion; and, stri- 
king his forehead, exclaimed — That it would do, as he 
had an account to settle with Austria. This exclamation 
he repeated several times. It is also said, that a letter 
written by the king of Westphalia to some one of his 
old associates of Guadaloupe, was, about a twelve- 
month ago, seized by the British on board of a French 
vessel bound to that island; in which letter it was stated 
that Jerome expected to be made king of Austria with- 
in a short period. One may justly apply to all the mem- 
bers of this family the verses of Claudian : 

His neque per dubium pendet Fortuna favorem, 
Nee novit mutare vices; sed fixus in omnes 
Cognatos precedit honos. 

G 



50 

sible of the danger with which they were threat- 
ened, nor awakened to .a just view of the evils 
which that danger, when realized, would en- 
tail upon them. It may be collected from the 
proclamations of the Austrian government, that 
a deplorable apathy prevailed among the peo- 
ple, at the commencement of the late contest. 
— The want of a proper correspondence on 
their part, long embarrassed the efforts of their 
rulers; but a conviction — resulting from the 
clearest proof — of the ruin with which they 
were menaced, at length drove the latter to 
the necessity of labouring assiduously to esta- 
blish a military system, similar to that which 
had so materially contributed to the superiori- 
ty of their enemies. The activity of their pre- 
parations alarmed the jealousy of the French 
government, and forms the ground of the 
complaints urged by Champagny in his cor- 
respondence with the Austrian minister Met- 
iernich) and of his peremptory and insulting 
demand of the relinquishment of the new plan 
of military organization. The whole of this 
correspondence is exceedingly curious, and 



51 

warrants the conclusion, — that the French em* 
peror might have continued the war in Spain 
undisturbed, if he had been willing to over- 
look the preparations of Austria. But it was 
essentially necessary for him to arrest the pro- 
gress of a system, which would have placed 
her power more upon a level with his own; 
and, when matured, might have opposed se- 
rious impediments to the execution of his ge- 
neral plans. Spain was, therefore, abandoned 
for the moment, and Austria reduced to the 
alternative, either of depriving herself of all 
means of defence, or of engaging in an im- 
mediate struggle for her existence. 

Those who are inclined to dispute the pro*, 
ject of universal conquest ascribed to France, — 
and her ambitious views on Austria, — argue 
from the seeming moderation displayed by Bo- 
naparte in his last war with that power; when 
her capital was in his hands, and the monarchy 
appeared altogether at his mercy. That mode- 
ration, however, may be easily reconciled 
with his plans; and was, in fact, calculated to 



52 

promote them. It was the common policy of 
his prototypes of antiquity, when similarly 
circumstanced. They often found it useful to 
weaken their enemies so far as to have nothing 
to fear from them; but carefully abstained from 
inflicting all the possible evil in their power. 
They paved the way for future and entire con- 
quest, and thought it unwise to provoke, too 
suddenly, the resistance of despair, and the vi- 
cissitudes of fortune. The appearance of mo- 
deration lessened the odium and the alarms, 
which Bonaparte's immense accession of 
strength by the treaty of Presburg, was fitted 
to excite in the Russian and Prussian cabinets. 
His views upon the north were not altogether 
ripe for execution; and those powers were, 
therefore, to be lulled into inaction by the 
hope of his forbearance, — upon which they have 
always appeared more to rely, than upon their 
means of defence. 

I have always been of opinion, that the de- 
struction of Prussia was a sure presage of the 
hostilities meditated against both Austria and 



53 

Russia. Prussia stood in the centre of the 
North. No balance could be preserved in that 
quarter without such an intermediate power. 
She was a barrier on all sides against violent 
usurpation, — and in the meridian of her strength, 
was the bulwark of the west of Europe. She 
protected France from any ambitious designs 
which Russia might have formed, — and served 
as a constant check upon Austria. It was the 
uniform policy of the court of Versailles, guided 
by this view of things, to sustain her cause and 
to court her alliance, as a fundamental security 
against any inordinate increase of strength on 
the part of their formidable neighbour.* Their 
Successors were well acquainted with this whole 
scheme of relations, and would have adhered to 

* See particularly on this head, a Me moire of M. de 
Vergennes, contained in the 2d vol. of the " Politique de 
tous les Cabinets," dated March, one thousand seven hun- 
dred and eighty four:— •" S'il falloit opter," says this 
statesman, « entre la conservation de la maison des 
" Bourbons en Italie, et celle de la puissance Prussienne 
" en Allemagne, il n'y auroit pas a hesiter entre i'aban- 
" don des premiers et le maintien de l'autre, quoique le 
" royaume de Naples, dans les mains de l'erapereur, lui 
" donneroit des avantages de plus d'un genre, &c*" 



54 

it, if it had been their intention to tolerate any 
equipoise or independence in the North. But 
other views required an opposite course of pro- 
ceeding. While Prussia remained entire, Rus- 
sia and Austria could not have been easily 
brought under the yoke; and on the other hand, 
it may, I think, be easily seen, that Prussia 
would not have been destroyed, if the fall of the 
other powers had not been contemplated as an 
event of no distant occurrence. 

It is true, that there were motives, scarcely 
less urgent than those springing out of the ge- 
neral plan of conquest, to precipitate the attack 
x>n Prussia. Gentz, who is placed at the head of 
the political writers of the continent, has declar- 
ed, in his answer to d'Hauterive, that nothing 
but the union of Austria and Prussia could arrest 
the career of France, and save the other states 
of Europe.* The French government wasw r ell 
aware of this reasoning — and the cabinets of 
Berlin and Vienna began to see the necessity of 

* See State of Europe, p. 240, 



55 

ao approximation. France then felt the expedi- 
ency of dealing an immediate blow, in order to 
dissipate the strength of Prussia, before Aus- 
tria, after her recent disasters, could collect the 
means or summon up the resolution to coope- 
rate in a plan of mutual defence, which the 
course of events pointed out as the only avail- 
able resource for both nations. It is also true, that 
when Bonaparte compelled Prussia to engage in 
the war which terminated in her utter ruin, the 
power of France had increased, and that of 
Austria had dwindled in such a degree, that a 
counterpoise was no longer wanting to the in- 
fluence or pretensions of the latter. But what- 
ever may be the superiority of strength with 
which France is endued, her subtle and ambi- 
tious ruler would never have removed Prussia, — 
the principal obstacle to the creation of an over- 
ruling influence in the North, — nor would he 
have occupied, at such a distance from the seat 
of his empire, the doubtful allegiance of West- 
phalia, if he had not meditated an early attempt 
upon the neighbouring powers. These mea- 
sures, which, on this supposition, tended t© fa- 



56 

cilitafce their destruction, would have redound- 
ed to his prejudice, if this sequel had not been 
projected. To have left Austria and Russia at 
peace for a length of time sufficient to heal their 
wounds, with the scope for ambitious designs, 
and the means of aggrandizement which the ex- 
tinction of Prussia afforded them, — would have 
endangered the power of France more than 
any merely possible union between the courts of 
Berlin and Vienna. # 

The growing power of Russia kindled, even 
before the revolution, an incurable jealousy in 
the cabinet, and among the speculative politi- 
cians of France. The close connexion of the for- 
mer with England, — the exclusion of France 
from all share in the negotiations with the Di- 
van, — the contest for influence between the two 
powers at the courts of Stockholm and Warsaw, 
— served to inflame this jealousy, and to produce 
the most hostile feelings on the side of France. 
To estrange the house of Lorraine from Rus- 

* Gentz is of opinion that such a union was not pos- 
sible, p. 241, State of Europe. 



57 

sia, — " to throw back the latter into her vast de- 
serts," — to exclude her altogether from an in- 
terference in the affairs of Europe, — was the 
favourite system of the statesmen of the old 
regime;* and it will be found, upon reflection, 
that their successors can scarcely be animated by 
more favourable dispositions. So much stress is 
usually placed on the strength of Russia as a 
counterpoise to the power of France, that I 
shall beg leave to add a few remarks on this 
subject. 

* " On ne peut pas disconvenir que le systeme gene- 
ral de politique, dont M. le Prince de Conti fut Tauteur, 
n'eut ete faitconformement aux veritables principes, et se- 
ion les interets de la France. — II consistoit a garder en 
Europe l'equilibre etabli par le~ traites de Westphalie— * 
a lier, par un autre traite perpetuel, la Turquie, la Po- 
logne, la Suede et la Prusse, sous la mediation et ensuite 
avec Taccession de la France; et enfin, a separer par ce 
moyen la maison d'Autriche d'avec la Russie, en rtjettant 
Cette derniere dans ses vastes deserts, et la releguant, fiour 
ainsi dire, hors des limites de VEurofie. — « Memoire dtt 
compte de Broglie — Politique de tous les Cabinets." — . 
See also another memoire from the same, dated six? 
teenth of February, one thousand seven hundred and se- 
venty five — Politique de tous les Cabinets. 

H 



58 

All my inquiries, during my residence 
abroad, concerning the true character and 
amount of the Russian means of warfare, led 
me to the conclusion that they are generally 
much overrated. Her maritime resources can 
be but of little service in her struggles with 
France, — and, in fact, are scarcely sufficient to 
give her any reputation for strength on the ocean. 
A nation possessing no distant colonies, — la- 
bouring under a scarcity of good sailors, — with- 
out considerable fisheries, and with no extent 
of coast to familiarise the natives to the dangers 
of the ocean, — cannot easily create a navy, cal- 
culated to render her formidable to the great ma- 
ritime states of Europe. The rapid advances of 
Russia, since the reign of Peter the Great; — her 
victories over the Turks, — owing, however, to 
the ignorance and pusillanimity of the Ottoman 
generals, and to the insubordination of their 
troops; — her gigantic projects of ambition, and 
the vast compass of her territory, (in reality, a 
source of weakness); — have dazzled the eyes of 
mankind, and produced most extravagant hy- 



59 

perboles, with regard to her military and pecu- 
niary resources. 

Upon these resources alone she must rely in 
her competition with France; and I am well 
convinced, that they will prove insufficient for 
her rescue. I have read, with some attention, 
the opinions of those who wrote upon the state 
of her finances and the character of her levies, 
before the French revolution, — and when I con- 
sider the difficulties which the Russian govern- 
ment had to overcome with regard to both, I 
am quite astonished at the efforts it then made, 
although I believe them to be greatly exaggera- 
ted.* Catherine laboured to spread an illusion 
on this subject, by the boldness and splendour 
of her undertakings; but they seldom required 
more than one or two campaigns; — and, with all 
the aids of absolute power, she was unable to 

* See on the subject of the resources of Russia " Po- 
litique de tous les Cabinets, — Conjectures Raisonnees 
de Favier, Art. cinq, de la Russie," — also " Coxe's Tra- 
vels in the North," those of " Professor Pallas in Rus- 
sia," « Tooke's History," &c. 



60 

collect a revenue equal to that of the secondary, 
order of states in Europe. Her armies were 
drawn from the interior of the empire, and 
formed by means of slow and operose levies. 
In weakening the inland population, they exert- 
ed a most pernicious influence over the general 
prosperity of a country, which, of all others,, 
most imperiously exacts the strictest economy 
of the blood, and the steadiest application of the 
agricultural labour, of its inhabitants. The mi- 
litary strength of Russia was impaired by the 
frequency of seditions among the soldiery, — of 
court conspiracies, and of popular commotions; 
— evils to which the Russian government is still 
exposed, and \vhich must always impede the 
execution of any regular plan of warfare. 

The natural progress of her strength, — the 
extension of her commerce, — the diffusion of 
the arts of civilized life, — and an improved sys- 
tem of internal administration within the last 
thirty years, have undoubtedly placed her under 
more favourable circumstances, and greatly aug- 
mented her resources. But, when contrasted with 



61 

those of France, there is still an irremediable 
deficiency. Her financial means bear no propor- 
tion in the comparison. Independently of the 
positive fact, her inferiority, in this respect, 
might be understood from a calculation, ad- 
mitted by most writers on political arithmetic, 
— that a thousand inhabitants, collected within a 
square league, will, when compared with five 
hundred, spread over the same surface, sustain 
much more than double the amount of taxes, 
and cost much less trouble and expense in the 
collection of them. The product of private in- 
dustry and of national revenue, with no differ- 
ence even of soil or climate, is, within a given 
space, uniformly in a ratio much greater than 
that of the population. I state this principle, 
however, chiefly with a view to illustrate the 
difficulties, to which Russia must be subject, in 
relation to the concerns of her treasury. The 
amount of her revenue is but of little import- 
ance in an investigation of her ability to cope 
with France. The impossibility, under which 
she labours, of repairing with promptitude any 
severe losses of men, — her want of good officers. 



62 

— and the defects of her military organization; — • 
are the most discouraging points of comparison. 

War, as waged, by her enemy, is not now 
principally a question of finance, but of the re- 
sources of population. The strength of a state 
opposed to France must be estimated, by the 
sum of its population, divided by the extent of 
its territory, and by the facility with which its 
institutions enable the government to wield that 
population. The first branch of this estimate is 
so far correct, that many writers compute, that 
a population of six millions, concentrated within 
a small space, is equal to one of twenty- four, 
diffused over a large surface. It is eminently 
true as it relates to the military operations of a 
country, waging a defensive war. Whoever re- 
flects on the sparse character of the Russian 
population, and considers that the Russian go- 
vernment is under the necessity of maintaining 
a standing army at home, in order to preserve 
domestic tranquillity, will easily understand the 
application of the foregoing remarks, and must 
be satisfied, that, although England might fur- 



63 

nish pecuniary supplies, Russia, after a few se- 
vere defeats, would be deficient in the number 
of her troops. 

The distance of Russia will not serve to pro,- 
tect her, when the intermediate powers are 
subdued. France will then press upon her fron- 
tier, with all the accession of numbers, of trea- 
sure, and of influence, which she must derive 
from an unlimited sway over the adjacent terri- 
tories. The acquisition of Finland, of Gallicia, 
or of whatever portion of Turkey may be now 
promised, to gratify the blind ambition of Alex- 
ander, will be no addition to his strength, — and 
will only conduce, by enlarging his bounda- 
ries, to multiply his embarrassments, when the 
Swedes — the Poles — the Turks — the Persians, 
and the Chinese, who border on his immense 
empire, — will be all set in motion to second the 
attack of his implacable enemy. During the last 
struggle of Russia, it was certainly in the con- 
templation of Bonaparte to erect a kingdom of 
Poland, under his immediate influence, in order 
to promote his designs on the north. Murat, 



64 

npw monarch of Naples, was to have wielded 
the new sceptre. In the evening of the day on 
which the victory of Friedland was announced 
in Paris, the princess Murat, at a numerous as- 
sembly held in her palace, was saluted queen of 
Poland by the public functionaries present. The 
reluctance of the Poles, and the acquiescence 
of Alexander in the creation of the kingdom of 
Westphalia, prevented the accomplishment of 
this plan. It is rather curious that a similar one 
was formed by the French cabinet in 1745. A 
deputation of Polish noblemen was sent from 
Warsaw at that period, to tender to the prince 
of Conti the wishes of the country, for his even- 
tual election to the crown.* 

The hasty submissions of Alexander at Til- 
sit, and all the events of the war which termin- 
ated in the ignominious peace of that name, 
tend to confirm the ideas I have suggested in 
the last page. The representations of the Bri- 
tish officers who accompanied the Russian ar- 

* Politique de tous les Cabinets — Lettre du compte de 
Broglie a Louis XVI. torn. 1. 



65 

mies, particularly of lord Hutcheson,go to prove 
that the Russians were, at no time, in a con 
dition to contend successfully with the French 
force. They wanted numbers, — officers, — aspirit 
of union in the generals, — and a well-regulated 
commissariat, — a department in which they are 
miserably deficient. So wretched was the pre- 
paration for this sanguinary struggle, that the 
Russian troops, on their own borders, suffered 
more than their assailants from the inclemency 
of the season and the scarcity of provisions. 
The most sagacious and experienced of the of- 
ficers whom I have cited, saw from the begin- 
ning no chance of success but in the casualties 
of fortune, — the unassisted skill of Benningsen, 
— and the courageous, hardy, obedient, perseve- 
ring character of the Russian soldiery. They 
never saw grounds for a belief, that the resour- 
ces of the Russian government would enable 
it to withstand the shock of more than one 
severe campaign. 

The divisions in the Russian cabinet, and 

the preponderance of a French faction at St. 

I 



66 

Petersburg, — which now sways the national 
councils,— constitute another and great source 
of weakness. The French partisans have sub- 
dued the spirit ^of Alexander, by an exposition 
of the impotency of his means, — and debauch- 
ed his principles, by specious statements of 
the benefits he is to derive from French alli- 
ance. It was asserted by the present opposition 
in England, that the estrangement of the Rus- 
sian monarch from British politics, was owing 
to the horror which he had conceived at the 
expedition against Copenhagen. But the testi- 
mony of lord Leveson Gower proved, unde- 
niably, that the rupture was decided upon pre- 
vious to that event; and was induced by the 
terror which the French arms had inspired, and 
the corrupt expectations with which Bonaparte 
had pampered the imagination of Alexander. 
The iniquitous war which the latter has waged 
since that period against Sweden, and his co- 
operation with Bonaparte in the late attack 
upon Austria, furnish strong evidence of a 
conscience by no means so scrupulous as the 
hypothesis of the opposition would imply. 



ft7 



You may easily infer, my dear sir, from the 
opinions which I have thus ventured to submit 
to you, that I cherish no hopes for the safety of 
the continent. I cannot consent to reason from 
loose probabilities and remote contingencies, 
- — and I see no other foundation upon which hope 
can rest. My conclusions are drawn from a 
view of the fundamental means and permanent 
relations of France, and not from a considera- 
tion of the character of her ruler. * Gentz, in 
his " Fragment on the Balance of Power," 
enumerates three traits in the present con- 
stitution of France, which, according to his 
idea, must render her irresistible: — 1st, The 
unlimited form of her government. — 2d, The 
decisive influence of the military character 
over the whole system, — and, 3d, the occa- 
casional and successful employment of revolu- 
tionary instruments and means. Add to these 
the federal strength which she has acquired by 
the extension of her limits, — the torpor which 

* See Gentz, State of Europe, p. 28?.. 



68 
seizes almost every nation even at the name of 
France, — the subtlety of her statesmen, — and 
the skill of her commanders, — and it will be at 
once apparent that she may bid defiance to the 
united efforts of Europe, if by any possibility 
they could be united. 

The elements of union, however, are irre- 
coverably gone. By the destruction of Prus- 
sia and the recent disasters of Austria, the 
North is broken into too many fragments, ever 
to be again consolidated. It is not Russia, such 
as I have described her, that can breathe a vi- 
vifying and elastic spirit into this disjointed 
mass. She stands alone in the midst of ruins, 
with all the ramparts overthrown which minis- 
tered to her own security. Holland can never 
be what she was. — Switzerland, that remained 
free, by a kind of prescription, under the old 
system, is now but u an entrenched camp" of 
France, and must, from her geographical po- 
sition, continue enslaved. — Germany is open on 
all sides. — The French armies march at once, 
and without impediment, into the heart of the 



69 

German dominions. The cession of the Rhine 
districts to the masters of Flanders, — of Hol- 
land, — of Switzerland, — and of the Tyrol, — 
left, thenceforward, no chance of safety for Aus- 
tria, or of independence for the north of Eu- 
rope. The archduke Charles may fight a suc- 
cessful battle, — but the fate of his unhappy 
country will depend, not on the issue of a sin- 
gle encounter, or of a single campaign: — it 
hangs upon the competency of the Austrian 
power to withstand the whole weight of the 
resources of the French empire. Under this 
point of view, her affairs never appeared to me 
other than desperate from the commencement 
of her last struggle.* 

* It is impossible to contemplate the final dissolution 
of Austria without lively emotion:- — dashed, as she is, 
from off her " wide ambitious base," on which she 
had stood firm and respected for so many centuries, by 
an enemy more relentless than those " sons of spoil," 
who, to use the language of the poet Collins, broke in- 
to a thousand fragments the " Giant Statue" of Rome. 
No empire which has as yet sunk under the blows of 
France, has fallen with a sound so ominous and fearful 
for Europe: and when we consider the power and se- 
curity of the Austrian monarchy but a few years ago, 



70 

This mode of reasoning leads me also to des- 
pair of the success of the Spanish contest. The 
subjugation of Spain was not rashly resolved, 
nor will it be irresolutely executed. Austria 
will be too much crippled to suspend a second 
time the progress of the invader. There is no 
politician so sanguine as to imagine that the 
English alone will wrest the prey from his 
talons, unless they can infuse into the Spaniards 
another spirit, and call forth other energies, 
than those which have been hitherto displayed. 
Could the contest be protracted for any length 
of time, there would arise, perhaps, some great 
leader to unite, organize, and direct the means 
of the country, — whose" strong divinity of soul" 
might restore the fortunes of his nation, and 

the world has never, perhaps, been presented with a 
more awful lesson on what Mr. Burke denominates 
" the tremendous instability of human grandeur." 

Eheu! quam brevibus pereunt ingentia fatis! 
Imperium tanto quaesitum sanguine, tanto 
Servatum, quod mille ducum peperere labores. 

Proditor unus, angusto tempore vertit. 

Cl audi an, In Ruf. cap. 5. 



71 

avenge the fall of those who now shed then 
blood in its defence. 

Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor. 

But, when we consider the character of the 
enemy, this hope vanishes, — together with the 
whole train of visionary encouragements, which 
the field of conjecture will always furnish to 
those who vehemently desire the accomplish; 
ment of a particular end. 

Should the life of the invader be suddenly 
destroyed, the fate which he now meditates 
for Spain might be averted, — but she would soon 
relapse into the same species of vassalage to 
France, under which she has hitherto groaned. 
This event might, indeed, plunge France her- 
self into a civil war, but would not, — according 
to my view of the basis of her power, — alter the 
destinies of the continent. A civil war would 
employ but a portion of the French force; and 
as far as my observation, when at Paris, ena- 
bles me to judge, would not endure long enough 
to afford time for the formation of a general and 



72 

efficacious league without. The struggle would 
terminate in the establishment of a military 
chief, — with the same views as the present, 
and armed with equal power over a people, 
W T hose military propensities, — whose licentious 
habits, — and whose servile spirit — would only 
be heightened by the state of disorder and insub- 
ordination into which they would be thrown. 
They would become, if possible, still more 
formidable to Europe than they are at this mo- 
ment. During the domestic contentions of 
Rome, and the civil wars of Italy, the business 
of conquest was pursued with more rapid suc- 
cess, than at any other period of their history. 
There is a passage in the Grandeur et Deca- 
dence ',* of Montesquieu, in reference to this sub- 
ject, which I shall quote as the best illustration 
of my opinions: — " It should be remarked, " 
says he, " that during the civil wars, which last- 
" ed for so long a time, the foreign influence of 
cc Rome was constantly on the increase. Un- 
iC der Marius, SyJla, Pompey, Caesar, Anthony 

' •* Chap. XL 



73 

*' and Augustus, — Rome, become more terrible 

" every day, consummated the ruin of the sur- 

u viving kings. There is no state which so se- 

44 riously menaces the world with conquest, as 

44 one which is afflicted with the miseries of 

4< civil war. Every man, the noble, the citizen. 

44 the artificer, the labourer, becomes a soldier, 

44 and when peace unites their strength, such a 

44 state possesses great advantages over the rest 

44 who have citizens alone. In civil wars, more- 

u over, great men are formed; because in times 

44 of confusion, those who possess merit make 

44 their way and rise to their proper level— 

" whereas in other periods, the subordination 

44 which must exist, counteracts the buoyancy 

44 of superior minds. Let us pass from the ex- 

" ample of the Romans to more recent in- 

M stances. The French were never so formida- 

4 ble without, as after the quarrels of the houses 

44 of Burgundy and of Orleans — after the trou- 

u bles of the League,-— after the civil wars of 

41 the minority of Louis XIII. and of that of 

44 Louis XIV. England was never so much re- 

" spected as under Cromwell, after the civi) 

K 



74 

" wars of the long parliament. The Germans 
" never acquired a full superiority over the 
" Turks, but after their civil wars. The Spani- 
" ards under Philip the Fifth, after the civil 
" wars of the succession, manifested a vigour 
" in Sicily, which astonished all Europe — and 
" we see Persia, at this moment, rise from the 
" ashes of a civil war, and humble the Turks." 



At the accession of Bonaparte to the govern- 
ment of France, that country exhibited in its 
interior a picture of misery and ruin, which had 
scarcely any parallel in the history of the world. 
To be satisfied of the truth of this position, we 
need only refer to the reports of the prefects, 
and to the discourses of the public functiona- 
ries, which have since been published under 
the authority of the new government itself. 
The tempest of the revolution had swept away 
all those artificial institutions and branches of 
domestic economy, which experience has shown 
to be alone substantially nutritive to a state, 
and conducive to the best interests of man, 



75 

both in his social and political relations. The 
present ruler inherited from his predecessors 
no other resources, organized into a system, or 
susceptible of ready application, than those 
which have since enabled him to roll the tide of 
calamity over the countries of the continent, 
without healing the miseries of his own. The 
only efficacious remedy for the wounds of 
France, was peace. It was alone calculated to 
produce a new system of morals and manners, 
and to establish the only true basis of public 
and private prosperity, — an industrious popula- 
tion, enjoying an easy subsistence. 

Much is said about the progress of the new 
rulers in the promotion of these objects, not- 
withstanding the extensive and sanguinary wars 
in which they have been constantly engaged. 
You, my dear sir, who are so profoundly vers- 
ed in matters of legislation, would not even af- 
ter the most positive testimony in the affirma- 
tive, readily conceive, how a government, 
occupied with schemes of foreign conquest and 
personal aggrandizement, could have succeed- 



76 

ed, within a very few years, in removing even 
common disorders of internal administration, in 
a country of so vast an extent as France. You 
will not therefore easily credit what is so often 
asserted, — that she has been raised from the pro- 
foundest depths of all possible wretchedness to a 
condition not only superior to her former lot un- 
der the Bourbons, but better than that of any 
other state of Europe. Of all the irregular phe- 
nomena recorded in history, this would be the 
most wonderful. The reflection of a moment 
must serve to convince you, that the assertion 
is entitled to no credit whatever. But as the 
mistakes of the public are not so easily correct- 
ed, and on this subject lead to others of greater 
importance, I propose to indulge in some de- 
tails relative to the internal state of the empire, 
as it fell under my observation less than two 
years ago. My statement will conduct to very 
opposite conclusions. Despotism has worn the 
same aspect whenever and wherever it has ap- 
peared. 



Those who are in the habit of declaiming on 
the comparative beatitude of France under the 



77 

new dynasty, lay much stress on fancied miti- 
gations and improvements in the system of 
finance. It is to this branch of their domestic 
economy that I mean to solicit your attention 
particularly. I have touched in a former page 
on the relation which subsists between the mi- 
litary character and the financial resources of 
the French government. The present inquiry 
will serve to illustrate that topic, and cannot be 
without some general interest. 

The disorders of the revenue constituted a^ 
principal theme of invective, with the dema- 
gogues who subverted the old government. A 
deficit, by no means considerable, was incessant- 
ly represented as an evil from which no relief 
could be obtained, but in a new order of things. 
The ministers of Louis the sixteenth applied 
themselves, with assiduity and skill, to the re- 
formation of this department; and if suffered to 
prosecute their labours, would have left no ra- 
tional ground of complaint to the nation. For 
the truth of this assertion, I appeal to the inva- 
hi able work of Necker on the finances, whose 



78 

statements I shall have occasion to compare 
with those of the present administration of 
France. Much was done by the Constituent 
Assembly in abolishing the most obnoxious 
branches, and in purifying the remaining sour- 
ces of the revenue. During the revolution, there 
never existed even the shadow of a regular sys- 
tem, notwithstanding all that was said and writ- 
ten on this subject. For a period of six years, 
the receipts of the treasury amounted annually, 
according to Ramel, only to fifteen millions 
sterling. The same writer - emphatically states, 
that he does not dare to calculate how much was 
expended. The revolutionary governments sup- 
ported themselves and the armies, not merely, 
like chevaliers d" Industrie, by trick and fraud, 
— but like highwaymen, by open violence and 
robbery. No subject presents more curious and 
astonishing details, than the history of the ex- 
pedients and sacrifices by which the pecuniary 
wants of the republic were supplied, and of the 
deplorable confusion and distress which they 
occasioned.* Their influence over the public 

* I refer the reader on this subject to Ramel—" His. 
des Fin. de la Republique." 



79 

morals was scarcely less disastrous than their 
operation upon the sources of private and pub- 
lic wealth. 

On the establishment of the consular govern- 
ment, the restoration of order to the finances, 
and an alleviation of the public burdens, were 
declared to be among the most immediate ob- 
jects of its solicitude. A system soon arose un- 
der its auspices, — invested with every possible 
solemnity of form, and ushered in with the ut- 
most liberality of promise. While the new 
rulers ostentatiously announced, — what they 
knew could not be fulfilled,- — the reduction of 
the public expenses for the first year, — they were 
careful to shake off the only restraint which re- 
mained upon the executive, in the management 
of the revenue. The legislative bodies had pre- 
viously exacted from the heads of departments, 
a statement of their probable expenditure dur- 
ing the year, — and after making the amount 
given in, the subject of public discussion,* they 

* " In the progress of despotism," says Dr. Smith, 
" the authority of the executive power gradually absorbs 



80 

themselves appropriated the sums, which they 
thought necessary for each. After some serious 
opposition from the members of the tribunate, 
the executive wrested this prerogative from 
them, and caused the whole mass of the public 
treasure to be placed entirely at its own dis- 
posal.* 

" that of every other power in the state, and assumes to 
u itself the management of every branch of revenue, 
Cl which is destined for any public purpose." 

(Wealth of Nat. b. 5. c. 1.) 

* " The right of imposing taxes,'* says Sir James 
Steuart, " appears no where almost to have been essen- 
" tially attached to royalty. This right I take to be the 
u least equivocal characteristic of an absolute and un- 
" limited power. I know of no christian monarchy (ex- 
" cept, perhaps, Russia) where either the consent of the 
" states, or the approbation and concurrence of some po- 
" litical body within the state, has not been requisite to 
" make the imposition of taxes constitutional." (Pol. 
Econ. b. 11. c. 23.) See Necker, Admin, des Fin. 
ch. 2., for some very able reflections on the utility of 
public discussion, with regard to taxes; and the just 
compliments which he pays to the British nation on that 
and almost every other topic, connected with their finan- 
cial system. 



81 

In order, however, to soften this usurpation, 
the minister of finance was instructed to exhi- 
bit annually a budget, like that of the English 
ministry, with a distinct specification of the re- 
ceipts and disbursements. This mummery is 
still continued, and is regularly accompanied by 
the most glowing pictures of past and future 
improvements; upon which no reliance what- 
ever is placed, by any well informed member 
of the community. To preserve appearances, 
however, they have been compelled to double 
the ostensible amount of the receipts, which 
they originally declared to be adequate to all 
the necessities of the state. The people are de- 
prived of all means of knowing the real amount 
either of the receipts or disbursements, — as no 
public scrutiny is suffered. You may thus at 
once conjecture, what must be, with regard to 
taxation, the state of a country, where a mili- 
tary executive enjoys an unlimited control over 
the estimate, the collection, and the expendi- 
ture, of the revenue, — where there exists no 
public organ for complaint or remonstrance,— 

no voice or influence of public opinion, — no 

1-j 



82 

idea of distributive justice,— and no protection 
for the citizen, against the usurpations of execu- 
tive authority. 

Montesquieu has remarked, that under a des- 
potic government, the branches of revenue can- 
not be numerous, on account of the violence 
and injustice of which such a government is 
necessarily productive.* He adds, that they 
must also be plain and simple; because the laws 
on this subject, if numerous, would be violated 
by power; and, if ambiguous, perverted by sub- 
tlety, in such a degree, as to embitter, beyond 
all endurance, the miseries of the contributors, 
by placing their fortunes at the mercy of the 
collectors. He refers, in this instance, — as well 
as in most others, wherein he speaks of the pro- 
perties of despotic governments, — to such as 
those of Turkey and China; and not to a mili- 
tary rule, like that which now governs France. 
Had he lived in our time, he would have 
seen, in the case of his own unhappy country- 

* Esprit des Loi, liv. xiii. ch. xiv. 



83 

men, by whom the spirit of his immortal work 
has been most shamefully dishonoured, a com- 
bination of evils, which he scarcely believed 
possible. He would have acknowledged, that 
even what he calls extreme servitude, may be 
augmented; — and that a people may be subject- 
ed at once to the double oppression of military 
and fiscal tyranny. He would have seen the art 
of oppressing a people by schemes of taxation, 
'art de travail^ les peuples en finance, carried 
to the utmost pitch of perfection, under a mili- 
tary despotism. 

I have carefully collated the list of objects 
taxed in England, particularly those which fall 
under the excise, with the catalogue of France; 
and have found, that the French government 
has omitted none, which, by any possibility, 
could be rendered productive. In England, they 
have studiously avoided the imposition of such 
taxes as might clog the industry, or trench too 
far upon the necessities, of the people. In 
France, these considerations appear to have had 



84 

no weight;-— while, at the same time, the propor 
tions observed in England, for the alleviation 
of the lower classes, are there wholly disre- 
garded.* No comparison can be instituted, as 
to the moderation and lenity, with which the 
numerous and complicated taxes of both coun- 
tries are levied. 

I shall now proceed to examine — 1st, The 
principal sources of the actual revenue of 
France; 2d, The system established for the 
administration and collection of that revenue; 
3d, The amount of the receipts and disburse- 
ments. 



* The income tax in England does not fall upon those 
whose incomes are less than sixty pounds sterling, per 
annum. From that sum, up to two hundred pounds ster- 
ling, there is a progressive or ascending scale of per cent- 
age — similar to that of Athens. For the articles apprais- 
ed in France, in order to ascertain the amount of private 
revenue, I refer to a curious body of instructions, issued 
to the appraisers and collectors in the year eighteen hun- 
dred and two, by the minister of finance, and contained 
in his report for that year, 



85 

The French rulers have adopted the usual 
distinction of direct and indirect taxes; — a dis- 
tinction of some importance in the formation 
of a budget and in the regulation of financial 
accounts. Under the head of direct taxes, they 
comprise — the land tax , — the impost upon mov- 
ables, divided into the personal, mobiliary, and 
sumptuary tax, — the tax on doors and windows 
— and on the wages of industry, entitled le droit 
des patentes. Under the denomination of indi- 
rect taxes they include — the stamp duties and 
those on registration and on legal proceedings, — 
the customs, — the excise, — and all the numerous 
branches of casual revenue, which must exist 
in so extensive an empire. The direct taxes 
are estimated at the commencement of the year; 
and a specific sum is allotted from this fund, 
by the legislative bodies, at the suggestion of 
the executive. The nature of the indirect taxes 
precludes an anticipated valuation. The man- 
agement of them is committed to various ad- 
ministrations, styled " the Administrations of 
the Customs, the Post-office, &c." and ac- 
countable to the minister of finance. The 



86 

direct taxes fall under his immediate supervi- 
sion. 

The latter are assessed upon the empire ac- 
cording to tables of distribution, which are 
annexed to the law specifying their amount. 
These tables are constructed from a view of 
the population, — the territorial extent, — and 
the supposed wealth of each department. The 
prefects and the general councils allot a quota 
to each district within their jurisdiction, — the 
sub-prefects to each arrondissement^ — and the 
mayors, of whom there is one for each com- 
mune or subdivision, apportion their contin- 
gent among the inhabitants of the commune. 
The name of each individual inhabitant, and 
an estimate of his property, are inscribed upon 
a list, which, together with the general allot- 
ments, forms what is denominated the cadastre 
— or revenue roll. The general government, 
in determining the contingents of the depart- 
ments, is supposed to be guided by the amount 
of taxes which each paid to the old govern- 
ment;— by the reports of the prefects, relative 



87 

to the ability and dispositions of the territories 
within their jurisdiction; — and by general cal- 
culations, with regard to the sources of public 
wealth. The subordinate allotments are sup- 
posed to depend on similar considerations, — - 
of a character less vague indeed, — but more 
arbitrary, and more open to the influence of 
partiality and to obscure vexations. 

The " contribution fonciere" or land tax, 
which has superseded the former faille and 
vingtiemes, must be understood not only in its 
usual acceptation, but as a charge on income. 
The maximum at which it is fixed by law — is 
one fifth of the net income of the subject, 
upon a general estimate of the whole product 
of the French territory. Untenanted mansions 
are exempted from contribution, in conse- 
quence of the double character which this tax 
assumes. — The personal contribution embraces 
every article which falls within the list of the 
assessed taxes in England — and which the 
epithet can imply. Horses, dogs, servants, vehi- 
cles, utensils, the rent of dwellings, stock of 



88 

every description, &c. — are all included in one 
or other of three branches,— -the personal, 
mobiliary, and sumptuary taxes, which I have 
mentioned above. An impost on gateways, 
chimneys, &c. is added to that on doors and 
and windows. The charges on these articles 
are all of the heaviest kind. 

Under the old government a tax was paid 
for the privilege of exercising trades and pro- 
fessions, and upon the emoluments and trans- 
fers of public offices. This tax, which bore the 
names of maitrise, jurandes, and droit de marc 
d'or, was abolished by the Convention, but 
revived by the Legislative Body, — and is still 
continued under the denomination of droit de 
patentes. The municipal officers now prepare 
for the government, lists of those, who exer- 
cise within the sphere of their jurisdiction, any- 
trade or profession, or are engaged in the lu- 
crative pursuits of industry. The tax which the 
latter are called upon to pay is either fixed by a 
tarif, or levied at the rate of one tenth of the 
f ent of the houses, shops, &c. which they oc- 



89 

wipy.* The trades and professions are divi- 
ded into classes. Some of diem, such as those 
of bankers, brokers, &c. pay a fixed impost. 
The contribution of the rest varies according 
to the population of the cities in which they 
reside. This droit de pat entes, which unites the 
character of a capitation tax with that of an 
impost on the wages of industry, is one of the 
most important and productive branches of the 
revenue. Nearly eighteen hundred thousand 

* In 1789 certain duties were imposed in England on 
inhabited houses according to the rent paid for them, or 
shops in them.— .The tax fell, as in France, upon the 
tenant and the shopkeeper. — The measure was thought 
so oppressive that it was soon repealed. — The comment 
of Sir John Sinclair, on this subject is particularly strong. 
— " This miserable instance," says he, " of ministerial 
" obstinacy and ignorance being at last repealed, with 
" the concurrence of the person who proposed it, it 
" seems unnecessary to dwell upon that want of principle 
u by which it was so preeminently distinguished. — To 
" think of assessing a tax, not according to the rent 
" which one receives, but to the rent that one must 
" pay, is the height of cruelty and injustice; or taxing, 
" as has been well observed, not the chance of profit, 
" but the certainty of loss, — namely, the perpetual and 
a unavoidable debt for a shop and house." (History of 
the Revenue, vol, 2d, p. 152.) 

M 



X 



90 

heads of families are subject to it. The public 
functionaries paid by the treasury enjoy an ex- 
emption, — while it presses upon those, — the 
profits of whose personal industry are at all 
times precarious — and frequently insufficient 
for the support of their families.! 

A thorough development of the operation 
of the direct taxes would require more space 
than the limits of this letter will allow. — I shall 
however, indulge in a few remarks — in order 
to afford a clearer insight into this subject. 
The inherent evils of the income and personal 
taxes are aggravated by the most oppressive 
inequalities in the assessment. These inequali- 
ties are necessarily incident to the system. — 
For the distribution to be in any degree equi- 
table, — it is necessary not only that the general 
allotments for the departments but that those 
of the prefects and the municipalities, — as well 
as their reports, — should be founded upon the 
most accurate and impartial calculation. — The 

t See Sir James Steuart, b. 5. ch. 4. — with respect to 
the effects of such a tax as this on the wages of industry. 



91 

individual is not only at the mercy of his 
particular assessor, but is exposed to suffer 
from the errors of his municipality, — of the 
administration of his department, and of the 
government at Paris. 

The data upon which the government pro- 
ceeds, in assessing the taxes upon the de- 
partments, — are obviously erroneous. — What 
a department may have paid to the old govern- 
ment furnishes no proof of its ability at this 
moment, on account of the total obstruction of 
many channels of wealth — and of the revolu- 
tions in the possession and value of property. 
- — Under the old regime — the value of real 
property was estimated at twenty and twenty- 
five years' purchase; — at this time — it is not 
more than twelve or fifteen in many depart- 
ments. — This difference is owing to a want of 
confidence in the stability of the government; -*- 
to the high rates of interest; — to the duties on 
registration and transfers; — and to an appre- 
hension of those violent expedients to which an 



%2 

arbitrary government may have recourse, in 
order to relieve its necessities. 

The other basis — that of population — is 
equally insufficient to insure a just distribution. 
Montesquieu remarks — " that a numerous 
" population, is frequently one of the principal 
u causes why a government will demand but 
" light taxes; — because the necessities of the 
" individual may leave but little for those of 
" the state." The general impoverishment 
produced by the revolution and the inequality 
of its ravages, should make this the rule of the 
French government^ — not only in the allot- 
ment of the quotas of the departments, — but 
in determining the amount of taxes for the 
whole empire. The superiority of the popula- 
tion of France over that of England, so far from 
alleviating the comparative burdens of the for- 
mer, — would only serve to aggravate them — 
even on the supposition that the resources and 
imposts of both countries were the same. I 
shall pursue this idea hereafter. 



98 

The system adopted for ascertaining the com- 
parative resources of the districts, is equally unsa- 
tisfactory. The personal interests of the munici- 
palities, — the ignorance of the assessors, — and 
the enmities which still survive the feuds of the 
revolution, — have given rise to the most gross 
and pernicious inaccuracies in their reports.* — 
In England the land-tax is assessed upon each 
district and has therefore become unequal, ac- 
cording to the various degrees of improvement 
in different parts of the country; but the valua- 
tion by which the lands are rated is fixed and 

* The minister of France holds the following language 
on this subject — " I had provisionally occupied myself 
" in collecting information relative to the taxable pro- 
" perty of the departments, in order to propose some 
" improvements in the distribution, — if 1 could succeed 
" in obtaining information upon which reliance could be 
" placed. — I must say that I have had occasion to remark 
" the most obvious inaccuracy in almost all the details 
" which have been given me. This inaccuracy is such 
" that if I were to calculate from these details, the whole 
" territorial revenue of the republic, which, even before 
" our acquisition of territory had been uniformly valued 
" at 1200 millions of francs, would be now rated only at 
" 850 millions, although the territory has been augmen- 
u ted in the proportion of one fifth," Sec. — Budget 1804. 



94 

nas redounded greatly to the advantage of the 
landlord, f — The fluctuating annual valuation 
which takes place in France is productive of 
the worst consequences to the subject. — The 
proprietor can never improve his estate without 
apprehending a correspondent increase of taxes, 
and as the quota of the district must be dis- 
charged, those who do improve, pay, not only 
in proportion to the increased value of their 
own estates, but to the diminution which may 
occur in the incomes of others. — When the 
sums collected fall short of the contingent pre- 
scribed by the government the deficiency is 
supplied by second and third distributions. 

This variable land-tax united to the imposts 
on every species of income, and every emolu 

t See on the subject of a variable land-tax, — Dr. 
Smith, b. 5. ch. 11. Wealth of Nat. and a copious dis- 
sertation on the difference between the French and 
English land-tax in the year 1770, — in Sir J. Steuart's 
Political Economy, b. 5. ch. 11. — Both these writers 
have discussed with their wonted ability, and in great de- 
tail, the French system of taxation at the periods at 
which they wrote. Their discussions serve materially 
to elucidate the present system. 



95 

ment of industry — and on stock of every de- 
scription, — gives rise annually to a most mi- 
nute and vexatious scrutiny into the fortunes 
and gains of individuals.* This scrutiny places 
them altogether at the mercy of the multitude 
of revenue officers, whose tyrannical practices 
are overlooked from political views. These 
abuses greatly enhance the evils resulting from 
the original inequality in the assessment, and 
have wrung from the individuals and general 
councils, an uninterrupted succession of bitter 
remonstrances and complaints which the govern- 
ment has been compelled to notice. To sup- 
port the assertions which a deligent perusal of 
these remonstrances and my own inquiries 

* Dr. Smith is of opinion, " that an inquisition into 
" every man's private affairs, and an inquisition which, 
" in order to accommodate the tax to them, watched over 
" all the fluctuations of his fortune, would be a source of 
" such continual and endless vexation as no people could 
" support." W. of Nat. b. 5. c. 2. p. 111. The French 
people have, however, learned to bear much more. I re- 
fer also on this subject to some judicious observations of 
Mr. Gallatin, in his * Sketch of the Finances of the Uni- 
ted States," p. 163, 4, 



96 

while in France — entitle me to make, 1 shall 
quote the language of the minister of finance 
in a report addressed to the Emperor on this 
subject in one thousand eight hundred and se- 
ven. The tenor of all the public documents is 
the same. '* The formation of the new registers," 
says the minister of finance " has led to the 
1 discovery of the abuses of the former distri- 
' bution. While some proprietors paid in one 
' thousand eight hundred and six, the fourth, 
' the third, and even a moiety and more of their 
' incomes, others were taxed at the rate of 
' the one-twentieth, one-fiftieth, and one-hun- 
' dredth part only. These inequalities would 
' have remained for ever unknown, if the pre- 
' paration of the new lists had not enabled us 
' to discover them. In effect, — what a perni- 
' cious influence has not this bad distribution 
6 over the existence of families. The evil is less 
1 felt in the great cities, where individuals are 
' generally more at their ease — but let a person 
4 go into the country and then say, whether it 
* is a matter of indifference to the father of a 
1 family, enjoying for instance an income of 



97 

" one thousand francs, to be taxed at the rate 
" of one half or even of one-eighth, or in any 
" such proportion of such an income," &c* 

The magnitude of these evils and the serious 
discontents resulting from them, rendered it in- 
dispensable for the government to attempt 
some plan of reformation. Two separate under- 
takings have been commenced for this pur- 
pose, — neither of which yields any promise of 
success or alleviation. One is a complete sur- 
vey of all the lands and taxable property of the 
empire, — the other — a partial operation of the 
same kind upon nineteen hundred communes or 
subdivisions of districts, selected by lot from 
various parts of the territory, — and destined to 
furnish a criterion for determining the contin- 
gents of the remainder. The last was begun in 
one thousand eight hundred and four, but has 
not advanced very rapidly. In one thousand 
eight hundred and eight, not more than one 
hundred districts had been surveyed — and in 

* Budget, one thousand eight hundred and seven- 

N 



98 

them — the task was executed in the most sloven- 
ly and inaccurate manner. 

It must be superfluous to remark that this 
plan, if completed, would be inadequate to the 
object. Its insufficiency will be best explained 
in the words of the minister of finance himself, 
who holds the folio wing language to the Empe- 
ror on the subject, in his report of one thousand 
eight hundred and six. " But I ought to re- 
-mark to you, sire, that all the prefects in their 
" reports to me on this head, concur in thinking 
" that the deductions from this system would 
" be too uncertain and hypothetical to afford 
" good grounds for a new distribution of the 
" public burdens, and would lead to well 
" founded complaints from every department, 
" whose contingent might be raised in conse- 
u quence of it. How, indeed, can we flatter our- 
" selves with the prospect of ascertaining from 
" the valuation of one thousand nine hundred 
" districts, the real revenue of the fifty thou- 
u sand others, which constitute the territory of 
8< the empire. There can be no proof of the 



99 

*' correctness of a calculation, founded on so 
" loose an analogy. I cannot, therefore, but 
" coincide altogether with the prefects." 

This plan is, nevertheless, persisted in, at no 
inconsiderable expense for the country. The 
experience, however, of its insufficiency, and 
of the new mischiefs to which it gives rise, has 
induced the government to dwell particularly 
in their financial reports, on the complete re- 
lief which the general survey is to afford. This 
magnificent scheme, — like most of the other 
projects of internal reform, with which the 
French rulers labour to delude the credulity, 
and to appease the murmurs of their subjects, — 
has made but slow progress, and according to 
their own improbable statement, cannot be per- 
fected, or rendered practically useful, until the 
year one thousand eight hundred and fifteen. 
Whoever considers the immense extent of the 
French territory, must at once perceive that no 
definite term can, with any degree of plausibi- 
lity, be assigned, for the accomplishment of an 
undertaking so laborious and expensive, as the 



100 

survey and valuation of the whole. * Since the 
year one thousand eight hundred and three, an 
additional million of dollars has been annually 
imposed upon the people, under the pretence 
of defraying the expenses which have been 
already incurred. It is announced also that 
schools have been instituted in Paris, and in 
the departments, and courses of practical geo- 
metry opened, in order to form surveyors for 
the business of admeasurement. Much, un- 
doubtedly will be promised, and but little per- 
formed. While the French rulers continue to 
receive the amount of their demands on the 
people, — to establish an equitable assessment 
will be as remote from their inclination, as it is 
beyond their power in the midst of the soli- 
citudes and claims of an extensive war. The 
disorders which now prevail, are, in fact, con- 
sidered as useful, under various points of view. 
They gratify the cupidity and tyrannical spirit 
of the useful adherents of the government: — 

* Dr. Smith remarks that the project of a general sur- 
vey of France has been undertaken about once every cen- 
tury by the French statesmen. 



101 
they enable the public authorities to exercise a 
formidable system of intimidation over obnox- 
ious districts — and they afford important facili- 
ties for supplying by irregular means, the wants 
of the imperial exchequer. 

In England, the inequalities of the land-tax 
are softened, by the paternal vigilance of a go- 
vernment which has no private interests to gra- 
tify, and by the equitable moderation of the 
revenue officers, who have no revolutionary en- 
mities to indulge, — and neither the temptation 
nor the power to commit excesses. The cir- 
cumstances of the two countries create, more- 
over, a difference on this head, which it may be 
useful to observe, as illustrative of their relative 
position with regard to taxes in general. Since 
the time of William and Mary, when the land- 
tax was assessed in England, rents have been 
continually augmenting, and the increase in 
the value of property has outstripped all cal- 
culation. The land-tax, therefore, subducts but 
a small proportion — even from the superfluous 
income of the rich, — and scarcely touches the 



lower orders, who, generally speaking, enjoy 
in abundance the necessaries of life, whatever 
may be the mass of the public burdens. The 
same observation cannot be extended to France, 
where so many multitudes are limited to a bare 
subsistence, and where the equality of fortunes 
produced by the revolution, aggravates the 
pressure of an income-tax of the proportion of 
one-fifth — because it trenches more upon the 
supposed superfluity of the proprietor, when 
estates are generally small. The best com- 
ment, however, upon the foregoing remarks, is 
to be found in a passage of Montesquieu. " In 
" the taxing of lands," sayshe, " it is customary 
" to make lists or registers, in which the diflfer- 
" ent classes of estates are inserted; but it is 
" very difficult to find people to frame them, 
" who are not interested in committing mis- 
li takes. Here then are two sorts of injustice — 
" that of the man and that of the thing. But if 
" in general, the tax be not exorbitant, and the 
" people continue to have plenty of necessaries, 
" these particular acts of injustice will do but 
*< little harm. On the contrary, if the people 



103 

u enjoy only just what is necessary for subsist- 
" ence, the least disproportion will be of the 
" greatest 1 consequence. If some subjects do 
" not pay enough, the mischief is not great — 
" their convenience and ease redound always 
" to the public advantage: — but if many pay 
" too much, all parties suffer. Their ruin is a 
" public misfortune."* 

There is another provision on the subject of 
the contribution fonder ■<?, which should not pass 
unnoticed. When it was fixed at the rate of 
five per cent, on income, the privilege of peti- 
tioning for relief, was given to those who found 
themselves burthened beyond that proportion. 
But the remedy was, at first, impracticable, in 
consequence of the formalities required in the 
application, — and was at length rendered alto- 
gether illusory by a law of the Directory. The 
privilege was revived by the co-sular govern- 
ment, and still continues — with this clause, how- 
rver, — that no relief is to be obtained, but upon 

* Esp: des Lois. liv. xiii. ch: vii. 



104 

condition, that the party aggrieved* shall point 
out some estate within his district, which has 
been underrated, in order that the treasury may 
be indemnified. The individual is thus con- 
demned to appear in the invidious light of an 
informer in order tu obtain justice, — and expo- 
ses himself to the animosities which such a 
character is calculated to excite. Such a con- 
dition as this, if the government believed it 
would be accepted, presupposes a corrupt and 
degraded people, — and may serve to exempli- 
fy the style and spirit of that legislation, which — 
before it consents that an acknowledged wrong 
shall be redressed, — exacts a treacherous and 
disgraceful violation of all the common chari- 
ties and sympathies of life. It is without a 
precedent in the annals of domestic administra- 
tion, and may also be adduced to show with 
what inflexible rigour the claims of the treasury 
are enforced. 



The indirect taxes of France embrace, as I 
have before mentioned, the duties of excise, — 
those on legal proceedings, — on the transfer of 



105 

property, — on registration, and various other 
branches of revenue, which I shall enumerate 
in their order. 

The tax on registration, is one of the most 
important and lucrative sources of income to 
the government. It has superseded the Controle 
of the old regime, which was the subject of so 
much popular clamour, and a favourite theme 
of declamation with the Economists. The new 
duty, infinitely more oppressive than the old, 
is levied upon all public or private instruments 
of writing, — on all judicial and notarial acts of 
every description, — on all changes and transfers 
of property, whether by gift, sale, or inherit- 
ance, — even on copies and extracts, made from 
the parish registers, and the bills of mortality. 
The stamps (the duties on which are scarcely 
less onerous than those of England) extend 
to as great a variety of objects — and are propor- 
tioned — to the value of the paper, or of the 
manufacture — or to the amount of the sums 
connected with the writings, &c. on which 

they fall. Separate offices are established in 

O 



106 

every district of the empire, for the enrolling 
of mortgages, upon which a heavy tax is im- 
posed, proportioned, generally, to the amount 
of the property mortgaged. 

The duties on registration are either deter- 
minate or proportional, according to the sub- 
ject-matter. They are determinate, — upon all 
such instruments, as those of procuration — of 
partnership — of divorce — of attachments — up- 
on proces verbauXy &c. but vary from one to 
five per cent, upon obligations, &c. and trans- 
fers of property by lease, sale, exchange, or 
other modes of alienation. Four per cent, is 
levied upon the sale of real property; five upon 
inheritances in the collateral branch.* It was 
calculated, by the minister of finance, in the 
year eighteen hundred and three, that the capi- 
tal value of the real property of France was, at 
least, thirty milliards of francs: f — that, accord- 

* See Dr. Smith, Wealth of Nat: b. 5. c. 2. p. 125., 
on the subject of taxes on inheritance. 

t Ramel, Ad: des Finances, p. 191. 



107 

ing to the usual probabilities of human life, the 
changes of property, occasioned by death, 
would affect about one-thirtieth of that capital, 
annually, — and that the duty, therefore, upon 
inheritances, at one per cent, only, must yield 
ten millions of francs. There is also a tax rais- 
ed upon public sales of movables. None can 
take place without previous declaration of the 
nature and period of the sale, from the regular 
officers, who also draw up a proces verbal of 
the result, by which the tax is estimated. The 
duties on registration include also what are 
entitled les droits de greffe, or imposts upon the 
institution of suits, upon exemplifications and 
copies of records, upon the receipt of bail, &c. 
All interlocutory decrees or judgments, orders 
of court, writs of execution, &c are equally 
subject to a tax. It is stated, by the former mi- 
nister of finance, Ramel, that the duties on re- 
gistration might be made to yield one hundred 
millions of francs to the exchequer, " by a pro.- 
"per extension of the tariff and particularly 
" when the low price of property, and the stag- 
" nation of business, could be corrected^ There 



108 

is an addition of one per cent, to these duties, 
under the denomination of a war tax, (subven- 
tion de guerre.) 

The duties on registration, and particularly 
those on law proceedings, have produced the 
effects which might naturally have been ex- 
pected. Register offices abound in every part of 
the empire, and the courts of justice, — more 
desirous of conciliating the favour of govern- 
ment, — by replenishing the treasury,-— than of 
facilitating the attainment of legal rights — by 
diminishing the cost of the pursuit, — have mul- 
tiplied judicial acts to a most pernicious extent. 
These duties fall upon the suitors, and sensibly 
depreciate, — for both parties, — the value of the 
object in dispute. They constitute one of the 
principal items of the expenses of litigation,— 
and greatly enhance the evils which have, at all 
times, accompanied, — and, at this moment, par- 
ticularly deform, the administration of justice 
in France. In England, the crown derives no 
revenue from the registration of deeds or writ- 
ings of any description. It entails no other ex- 



109 

pense than the fees to the officers, seldom more 
than a reasonable recompense for their labour. 

I cannot better illustrate the wisdom of this 
policy, than by quoting the language of Dr. 
Smith, on this subject. His sentiments will 
serve to convey a just idea of the operation of 
these duties in France. " Taxes," says this 
great writer, " upon the sale of land, fall alto- 
" gether upon the seller. He is almost always 
" under the necessity of selling, and must, 

II therefore, take such a price as he can get. 
" The buyer is scarcely ever under the neces- 
" sity, and will, therefore, only give such a 
" price as he likes. He considers what the land 
" will cost him in tax and price together. The 
" more he is obliged to pay in the way of tax, 
" the less he will be disposed to give in the way 
" of price. Such taxes, therefore, fall always 
i; upon a necessitous person; and must, there - 
" fore, be frequently very cruel and oppressive, 
" Taxes on the sale of old houses, of ground 
M rents, &c. fall altogether on the seller: those 
" on bonds and contracts for borrowed money, 
u altogether on the borrower. All taxes upon 



/ 



110 

" the transference of property of every kind, so 
" far as they diminish the capital value of that 
" property, tend to diminish the funds destined 
" for the maintenance of productive labour. 
u Those are all, more or less, unthrifty taxes, 
" that increase the revenue of the sovereign, 
" which seldom maintains any but unproduc- 
u tive labourers, at the expense of the capital 
" of the people, which maintains none but pro- 
" ductive. Such taxes, even when they are pro- 
" portioned to the value of the property trans- 
u ferred, are still unequal: the frequency of 
" transfers not being always equal in property 
" of equal value."* 



Under the old government, the national fo- 
rests embraced three millions of arpents, or 
acres, and gave about twelve millions of francs 
to the royal treasury. The annexation of all 
the forests formally held by the corporate bo- 
dies and the emigrants, to those of the state, 
and great acquisitions of the same kind in Bel 
* Wealth of Nations, b. 5. ch: 2. p. 128. 



Ill 

gium and on the left bank of the Rhine, have 
augmented the number of acres to nearly five 
millions. They constitute a fruitful source of 
revenue, and yielded in one thousand eight 
hundred and six, something more than seventy 
millions of francs, according to the budget for 
that year. All forests above three hundred 
acres have been added to the national domains 
and declared inalienable. In the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred, the national forests were 
thenceforward exempted by law from the land- 
tax. They employ more than eight thousand 
persons consisting of conservators, inspectors, 
guards, surveyors, &x. No individual proprie- 
tor of wood -land can cut down his timber or 
clear his land under a heavy penalty, without 
making six months previously a declaration of 
his intention to one of the conservators, whose 
report determines the government either to 
grant or refuse permission to that effect.* 
This regulation gives the government a virtual 
monopoly of the sale of wood throughout the 
empire. 

* The same law existed under the old regime. 



112 

According to Ramel, the sale of national do- 
mains — consisting chiefly of the confiscated 
property of emigrants, — produced in the course 
of the revolution, about one hundred millions 
sterling, and contributed materially to defray 
the expenses of the republic. The movables, — 
according to the same writer, — yielded ten mil- 
lions sterling. In one thousand eight hundred 
and two, there remained — for sale — in the old 
territory alone,-— domains of a capital value of 
seventeen millions sterling. On the left bank of 
the Rhine, of the value of about six millions; 
and to these sums, was to be added — another of 
three millions for arrears. In the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred, five millions of francs were 
collected from the sale of national domains 
conquered m Holland. All the crown and pub- 
lic lands of Spain will undergo the same fate. 
Domains of the capital value of forty three mil- ^ 
lions of francs, — situated principally on the left 
bank of the Rhine,— were bestowed on the se- 
nate and the legion of honour at the commence- 
ment of the imperial government, — but have 
since been receded: — a part, about twenty 



113 

aine millions to contractors on account of the 
treasury, and the remainder to the sinking 
fund — in consideration of annuities on that 
fund. According to the budget of one thousand 
eight hundred and seven the annual produce of 
the property of this nature, still in the hands of 
the government, — and altogether distinct from 
the national forests, amounted to something 
more than four millions. The government also 
draws a revenue from game-licenses, and 
from licenses to fish in the navigable rivers, of 
which in this respect it has assumed the sove- 
reignty. 

To persons conversant with the principles of 
political economy, the evils arising from the cir- 
cumstance of such immense tracts being in the 
hands of the executive authority must be at 
once apparent. In the hands particularly of such 
a government as that of France, the manage- 
ment of so extensive a property is a source 
of oppression, — and robs the great body of the 
people of the additional revenue which it would 
yield, if left to the more productive care of in- 



114 

dividual interest. A proposition founded on 
considerations of public utility, was made to the 
national assembly for the sale of the forests, — 
but has never been agitated since. I shall quote 
the authority of Dr. Smith, whose general rea- 
soning on this subject deserves to be read with 
attention, and whose opinions are eminently 
just when applied to a country so populous as 
France. " The revenue which in any civilized 
" monarchy, the crown derives from the crown 
" lands, though it appears to cost nothing to 
" individuals, in reality costs more to the so- 
" ciety than any other equal revenue which the 
" crown enjoys. It would, in all cases, be for 
" the interest of society to replace this re- 
" venue to the crown, by some other equal re- 
" venue, and to divide the lands among the peo- 
" pie, which could not well be done better per- 
" haps, than by exposing them to public sale. 
M Lands for the purposes of pleasure and mag« 
" nificence seem to be the only lands which in 
" a great and civilized monarchy, ought to be- 
" long to the crown, &c."* 

* Wealth of Nations— b. 5. c. 2. p. 80. 



115 



The gross produce of the public lotteries of 
France, is estimated at about twenty millions 
of francs. The receivers are entitled to five per 
cent, on what they collect, — which deduction, 
united to the expenses of the establishment, 
leaves about twelve millions for the exche- 
quer. The lottery offices are spread through- 
out all the cities of the empire, under the direc- 
tion of the administrators and inspectors ap- 
pointed by the government. The drawings 
take place twice a week at Paris, and as often 
at Bourdeaux, Brussels, Lyons and Strasbourg, 
as to afford one every other day. The principle 
of the lotteries, which it would be now both 
tedious and irrelevant to explain, is, as may 
be easily imagined, highly favourable to the 
government. It was the desire of Necker that 
those of the old regime should be abolished. 
He reprobates them in his work on the finances, 
as repugnant to all moral ideas; particularly 
when the profits accrue to the sovereign. Such, 
I think, should be the wish and feeling of eve- 
ry government studious of public morals, and 



116 

eminently the policy of the present rulers of 
France, — if it came within the sphere of their 
views, to correct the vices of the heart. 

The rapid destruction and creation of for- 
tunes, — the fate of the paper currency, — and 
the impoverishment of all classes, during the 
revolution, — have given, — in that country, — 
tenfold activity to the spirit of gambling, which 
naturally belongs to a sanguine people. It may 
be truly said to rage in the metropolis, and 
exhibits there, under the most disgusting and 
frightful aspect, all the miseries and disorders 
which usually follow in the train of licen- 
tious adventure and criminal indulgence. The 
tickets of the lottery pass from the hands of 
the factors, — at a considerable advance, — into 
those of the lower orders, whom the tumults 
of civil commotion and the absence of religious 
instruction, have estranged from the love and 
the habit of regular industry. — They circulate 
w r idely also, — among the class of abandoned 
profligates, — of persons without employment, 
les gens desoeuvres, — and of decent but neces- 



117 

sitous individuals — with whom Paris abounds 
beyond any other capital in the world. I have 
heard it asserted by an intelligent person en- 
gaged in the administration of the lotteries,— r- 
that they occasioned in Paris more than one 
hundred suicides in the course of the year. 

This may be an exaggerated estimate — but 
it will serve to illustrate the extent of the 
wretchedness and depravity to which they lead. 
— The numerous gambling tables of the capi- 
tal — all of which are licensed, — and some farm- 
ed out by the government — concur in inflam- 
ing the thirst of irregular gain; — in vitiating 
the morals and deranging the habits, of 
private life.— I know not that any spectacle, 
among the varieties of vice and misery, which 
I had occasion to contemplate in Europe, 
struck me with more horror than the gambling 
orgies of the Palais Royal, where apartments of 
immense extent are at all hours of the night — 
filled with persons of both sexes, indiscrimi- 
nately engaged in games of the meerest hazard, 
— and exhibiting, by their gestures and phy- 



118 

siognomy, — all the keen anguish and the tu- 
multuous agitation which the extremes of des- 
pair and elation can produce. Mixed with de- 
signing sharpers, — with spies of the police, — 
with famished mendicants and intemperate 
prostitutes, they form altogether a group which 
might have served as a model to the pictures 
of Dante's Inferno,* and than which nothing 
more disgusting is to be found in the delinea- 
tions of the pencil or in the fictions of poetic 
fancy. 

The imperial post-office yielded in the year 
1807, about seven millions of francs net reve- 
nue. — The gross produce was estimated at 
twenty-five millions. — The necessity of main- 
taining post-offices near the armies, is assigned 
as the cause why so small a portion of the re- 

* It naturally recals to the mind the verses of the 
third Canto, 

Genti dolorose, orribili favelle 

Anime triste, sospiri, pianti 

Parole di dolore, accenti d'ira 

Voci alte e fioche> et suon di man con elle, &c 



119 

ccipts was emptied into the treasury. It is sta- 
ted by the minister of finance that the gra- 
tuitous services rendered to the government 
and the constituted authorities, — would, — if 
paid for at the common standard, — produce 
about twelve millions. — I must remark gene- 
rally, that the functions which belong to this 
establishment, are executed with great regu- 
larity and despatch. The discipline of that 
branch of it, which is charged with the supply 
of post-horses for the convenience of travellers, 
is excellent and deserves to be imitated.* But 
under a political point of view, the whole is 
rendered a most formidable engine of despo- 
tism. All the post-offices of the empire and 
those of the countries subject to French influ- 
ence, are rendered instrumental to the most 
arbitrary purposes of the domestic police and 
of the foreign policy of Bonaparte. — No papers 
of any description, — whether printed or manu- 
script, — are suffered to reach their destination, 
if not perfectly conformable to his views. -*■ 

* See livre desfiestet* 



120 

No communication can be held through this 
channel without being subject to governmental 
inspection. Through the agency of the nume- 
rous functionaries of this establishment, and of 
the inn-keepers, — with whom they are in close 
correspondence, — a minute supervision is ex- 
ercised over travellers in every part of the em- 
pire, of whom scarcely an individual can pass 
unnoticed or unknown. I was credibly inform- 
ed in Paris that more than thirty clerks are 
unremittingly employed in opening and copy- 
ing the letters which are received in the post- 
office of that capital. The provincial post- 
offices are similarly constituted. These bureaux 
de secret, as they are denominated, existed un- 
der the old government — but in a more limited 
extent. The Count de Broglie in a letter to 
Louis the Sixteenth, contained in the " Poli- 
tique de tous les Cabinets," states that in his 
time twelve clerks were occupied in the same 
way in Paris under the direction of a confiden- 
tial person, who, with them, formed a distinct 



121 

department in the office.* The abuses which 
he ascribes to this horrid inquisition, are such 
as tend to destroy all confidence and spirit in 
individuals — and to disorder the whole frame 
of society. The character of the present go- 
vernment, and the state of morals in France, 
at this moment, do not authorise the hope, — 
that the extension of this system has been ac- 
companied by any mitigation, either in the 
number or atrocity of the evils, of which the 
Count de Broglie complains. 

In 1805, the net produce of the customs 
was stated in the budget at forty -one millions 
of francs. The minister in his report of 1807 
has put down the receipts of the preceding 
year at sixty millions, — in which, however, he 
includes about fifteen millions raised from the 

* P. 15. vol. 1. " On a, de tres-ancienne date, etablia 
" l'hotel des postes un bureau de secret. M. D'Ogny 
" en est aujourd'hui le chef, et a une douzaine de 
u commis sous lui, pour ouvrir toutes les lettres, ou du 
" moins celles qu'on suspecte et en tirer promptement 
" des copies ou des extraits," &c. 

Q 



U2 

salt-tax, — with the collection of which the ad- 
ministration of the customs was charged. — A 
large portion of the remainder consisted of the 
produce of goods seized from smugglers, — and 
of English merchandize confiscated in the ter- 
ritories occupied by the French armies. — The 
minister boasts, manifestly, however, in a tone 
of forced exultation, " that the circumstances 
" of the war had not proved favourable to the 
" British trade with the continent, — and that 
" the commerce of France had been enriched 
" by the losses sustained by her rival." — He 
adds, — that a line of French custom-house 
officers had been established from Cuxhaven 
to Travemunde in order to prevent the intro- 
duction of English merchandize by the fron- 
tiers of Holstein. — At this moment, the pro- 
duce of the customs must be drawn almost 
exclusively from the smuggling trade and the 
forfeiture of goods of British manufacture. It 
will, however, be thought necessary for some 
time that a large item under this head should 
be introduced into the budget, — compounded 
of these or any other ingredients, however 



123 

extraneous, — in order to conceal the amount 
N of the loss consequent on the total privation of 
external trade. 

The seignorage on coin produced, in the year 
eighteen hundred and seven, about four hun- 
dred thousand francs. The whole amount of 
the new coinage, at that period, was about three 
hundred and sixty millions of francs. There has 
been some improvement in the machinery of 
the mint — but a material adulteration, particu- 
larly in the gold coin, although the new laws 
on this head prescribe the standard of the old 
regime. A tax, under the title of droit de ga- 
rantie, is raised upon all articles of gold and 
silver, fabricated by jewellers, &c. — upon 
which the government imprints a stamp. The 
amount of specie, existing in France before 
the revolution, was estimated by Necker at 
2,200,000,000 francs. Penchet supposes it to 
have amounted, in the year eighteen hundred 
and seven, within the limits of the old territory, 
to 1,850,000,000. The diminution, however, 
must have been much more considerable than 



124 

this writer is willing to allow. To be satisfied 
of this, it is only necessary to reflect on the va- 
rious causes which conspired to drain off the 
specie, in the course of the revolution: — such 
as — the vast amount of coin paid to the armies 
abroad — the operation of the paper currency — 
the subtraction of capital by emigrants and 
others — and the great balance of trade, which 
has been uniformly against France, during the 
present and the last war, and which, in the 
year eighteen hundred and one, amounted to 
112,659,000 francs. Much of the specie which 
remains is locked out of circulation, in conse- 
quence of the character of the small proprie- 
tors, among whom the great estates have been 
divided. This idea may be best explained in 
the language of Peuchet, a statistical writer of 
France, who cannot be suspected of exaggera- 
tion, and whose testimony will throw additional 
light on the numerous evils which have sprung 
from the equalization of property in his coun- 
try. "It is not merely necessary," says he, 
" that the specie should be abundant; it should 
" also be current: for, if it be locked out of 



125 

11 circulation, by distrust, avarice, or a limited 
" consumption, it might as well not exist. This 
" last cause of stagnation has been very sensi- 
" bly felt, since the alienation of the great 
" landed estates to the old residents of the 
" country. From being mere farmers and te- 
" nants, they have become the proprietors of 
" an income of more than three hundred mil- 
" lions of francs; and spend not the third part 
" of what the former possessors of the soil dis~ 
" bursed in the consumption of the products of 
" national industry. Hence, have resulted, a 
" void in the profits of industry, and a want of 
iC money in commercial transactions; which 
u are confined to mere signatures for the most 
•' part, and which never can regain their 
u former solidity and extent, as long as the.ter- 
" ritorial income is not more liberally expend - 
" ed in the great cities. This inconvenience 
:c may not be felt in a commercial country like 
" England; but in France, whose chief wealth 
" is in the product of the soil, from the mo- 
:i ment that the rnonied income remains stag 
■ nant in the hands of those who do not pro 



126 

" mote that consumption, which nourishes in- 
" dustry and manufactures, — the latter must 
" languish, and cannot revive, until the chii- 
" dren of the present proprietors establish 
" themselves and expend their incomes, in the 
" great cities. " (Statistique de la France, 1807, 
p. 470.) 

The government enjoys a monopoly of pow- 
der and saltpetre, and exercises an exclusive 
privilege in the fabrication and sale of snuff and 
salt, in the departments beyond the Alps. 
They have laid a general tax on salt, — more 
productive than the famous gabelle, — and 
scarcely less burdensome, although they are at 
great pains to inculcate the utility of the ex- 
change. The duty is levied upon its fabrication 
at the salt-marshes, and farmed out to an ad- 
ministration or regie. The retail sale is left un- 
incumbered in the interior of the empire. In 
this difference the principal advantage ascribed 
to it over the gabelle is said to consist. The 
price of the commodity is, however, higher 
than at any antecedent period; and I am much 



127 

inclined to adopt the opinion which Necker 
suggests on this subject,- " that the collection 
" of the revenue on salt, sold in an exclusive 
" but regular manner, is not more burdensome 
" to the people, than the collection of a propor- 
" tionate impost levied at the salt-marshes."* 
In order to render this duty, which has been 
particularly offensive to the nation, the more 
acceptable, it was stated to be in lieu of, — and 
destined to the same purpose as the tolls 
previously collected on the high roads. 

These tolls yielded about fifteen millions of 
francs annually, which the government pro- 
fessed to devote to the improvement of the 
roads, causeways, &c. They gave rise to such 
gross peculation, and became so universally the 
subject of complaint, that it was at length found 
necessary to abolish the whole system of turn- 
pikes. The tax on salt was introduced in its 
stead. It was stated, in the year eighteen hun- 
dred and six, by the minister of finance, that 

* Admin: des Finances, c. I. vol. 2. 



128 

more than thirty-five millions of francs were 
annually requisite for the reparation of the roads 
and public works. According to the budget, 
the whole expenditure of the minister of the in- 
terior does not exceed this sum — and it is, 
therefore, easy to conceive, that but a small 
portion of it is allotted to that purpose, as for the 
roads, &c, fall exclusively within his pro- 
vince. 

The state of the roads by no means corre- 
sponds with the pompous reports of the govern- 
ment. Before the revolution, the cross roads 
were much neglected, and declared to be, in 
many places, absolutely impassable. While 
these, — as it may easily be imagined, — under- 
went no improvement in the course of the re- 
volution, the great post roads and the naviga- 
ble canals, sustained incalculable injury. The 
new government has attended to them princi- 
pally with a view to facilitate the march of the 
troops — and not in order to promote the con- 
venience and domestic industry of the people. 
The great roads, therefore, leading to the fron- 



129 

tiers of Spain and Italy, and in the direction 
of the Rhine and of the Netherlands, — the 
military highways, as they may be styled, — 
have been carefully repaired, — while those of 
the Atlantic departments are still in the worst 
order imaginable.* Vast sums have been ex- 
pended in the construction of an admirable 
road over the Simplon, — and a similar one will, 
no doubt, be undertaken over some one of the 
Pyrenees. It was a maxim of the Romans, that 
no country could be said to be thoroughly sub* 
dued, until it was rendered completely per- 

* The testimony of the minister of finance will have 
some weight on this subject. His report for the year 
eighteen hundred and five, contains the following address 
to the emperor: " Dans cette France, objet de tant de 
-" jalousies, votre majeste voit par-tout encore des mines' 
"a reparer: des landes arides-a couvrir d'habitations est 
" de troupeaux: des marais qu'il faut rendre a la culture 
" et a salubrite: des ports qu'il faut ouvrir ou recreusef^ 
a des departemens tnticrs qu'il faut, par des communica* 
" tions, attdcher au rente de l" empire. Si la guerre se pro> 
" longe.qui ne peut pas sentir que votre majeste est de- 
" tournee de ses vues les plus cheres: qu'elle sacrifie a 
<; la necessite, a l'honneur, ce premier sentiment de la 
" nation, les inter its- de sa phis veritable gloire" &c. 

R 



130 

vious to the conquerors. Great expenses have 
also been incurred in embellishing the capital, 
in order to feed the vanity of the monarch, 
and to increase the lustre of his reign. Large 
sums are expended on the public theatres, 
which are invested with an unrivalled degree 
of splendour, and in the encouragement of 
such of the arts as contribute to the decoration 
of the imperial palaces, and to the commemo- 
ration of " the sublime virtues and patriotic 
labours'* of the Emperor. But a traveller has 
occasion to observe every where, that works 
of real utility are altogether secondary in the 
consideration of the government. A tax, pro- 
ducing about six millions of francs, is levied 
upon the internal navigation of the empire, and 
operates greatly to the prejudice of the inland 
trade. It is the opinion of Dr. Smith, that all 
public works, — such as roads and canals, for 
the convenience of the inhabitants of a coun- 
try, or for the benefit of their inland trade, — 
are better maintained by a local revenue, un- 
der the management of a local administration, | 
than by the general revenue of the state ? 



131 

-which must be at the disposal of the executive 
authority. This position, which is true in al- 
most all cases, is eminently so with regard to 
France under her present circumstances. 



The duties of excise and those on public 
carriages, playing-cards, &c. are denominated 
the united duties — les droits reunis. They yield 
a net revenue of about sixty millions of francs, 
and draw altogether from the people about one 
hundred millions. The tax upon tobacco in 
leaf, and upon the fabrication of snuff, produ- 
ces twenty millions. The licences sold to distil- 
lers, and the duties imposed on every species 
of distillation, — such as that of grain, cherries, 
&c. and on breweries, yield also a considerable 
sum. The minute attention given to these 
sources of revenue, may be evidenced by a re- 
mark of the minister of finance in his report on 
this subject for the year one thousand eight 
hundred and five. He states that his majesty 
had decided that farmers, who distilled merely 
for the purpose of obtaining the malt necessary 



132 

for the support of their cattle, — might claim an 
alleviation of the tax — " etaient sasceptibles dc 
lafaveur dhtn abonnement." It is subjoined that 
the monarch had generously enacted — that the 
small-beer, la petite-dierre, used by the lower 
classes of his subjects, should be privileged 
from the usual duty. It is impossible to ima- 
gine any beverage more meagre or cheap than 
this; — but still the exemption is announced as 
a convincing proof of his imperial majesty's 
tenderness towards the poorer orders!* 

The fiscal provisions on the subject of wines 
and spirituous liquors of every description, de- 
serve to be noticed. An inventory is drawn up 
by the revenue officers, of all the wines, — 
cider — perry — beer — brandy, &c. made within 
their jurisdiction. According to an estimate 
founded upon this inventory, a duty is levied in 
the first instance, — which in the budget of one 
thousand eight hundred and seven, is stated to 
have produced near seven millions of francs. 

* Budget 1805, p. 29. 



133 

Twenty per cent, moreover, is exacted on every 
sale of these articles in the gross. No such sale 
can take place, nor can they be removed from one 
place to another, without a previous declaration 
of the buyer or seller, who obtains, on paying 
the duty, a permit or discharge from the reve- 
nue-officer. When the latter has reason to sup- 
pose that a false statement has been made with 
regard to the value of the article, he may re- 
tain it, at the price stated, by paying in cash 
and one-fifth in addition. Ten per cent, is de- 
manded on every retail sale, and a declaration 
is required from all retailers of the quantity and 
species of the liquors in their possession. They 
are to suffer the visits and examination of the 
excisemen, whenever it may be deemed neces- 
sary. Any contravention of the laws on this 
subject is punished by a confiscation of the ar- 
ticle seized, and a fine of one hundred francs. 
Menaces of extreme rigour are at the same time 
held out against those who are delinquent in 
paying the duties. £Loi sur les finances, 1806.) 



134 



Independently of the taxes which I have enu- 
merated under the denomination of direct and 
indirect, there are various other oppressive im- 
posts, which shouid not be overlooked. The 
new coin entitled a franc — is divided into one 
hundred parts called centimes — and under the 
name of additional centimes, (centimes addi- 
tionels) a certain per centage is levied upon the 
whole amount of the direct taxes for various 
purposes, — one of which is the supply of the 
deficit which may occur in the collection of 
those taxes. The government exacts, also, a 
large per centage on this fund under the title of 
a war-tax. The councils of the departments and 
of the communes, are authorised to levy a simi- 
lar contribution, for the purpose of defraying 
local charges of every description; — for the sup- 
port of the judiciary establishment and all its 
appendages — of the provincial bureaux — of pri- 
sons, hospitals, &c. I shall state the amount of 
this per centage in several instances, in order to 
convey an idea of the vast addition which it 
makes to the public burdens. 



135 

Ramel calculates* that the additional cen- 
times levied in the year one thousand eight 
hundred, amounted to forty -three and a half 
per cent, on the total of the direct taxes. In the 
year one thousand eight hundred and seven, 
the government imposed an additional duty, on 
account of the war, of ten per cent, on the land- 
tax — ten per cent, on the window-tax — fifteen 
percent, on the droit despatentes, &c. The gene- 
ral councils were authorised to levy sixteen per 
cent, on all the direct taxes for the purposes 
mentioned above: — one and a half per cent, for 
the expenses of the general survey — four per 
cent, for the reparation of the public buildings, 
roads, ckc. The councils of the communes were 
also empowered to raise a considerable per cent- 
age in order to defray the expenses of their par- 
ticular subdivisions. The latter present an an- 
nual budget to the minister of the interior, — 
and, as well as the general councils, act under 
his directions in the imposition of the local 
charges. In one thousand eight hundred and 

* Admin, des Fin. p. 92. 



136 

eight, the councils of the departments were au- 
thorised to raise seventeen per cent, on the di- 
rect taxes for general purposes: — and fi\e per 
cent, for the improvement of the roads, bridges, 
&c. The councils of the communes were in- 
Vested with the privilege of collecting duties 
according to the rates of the preceding year, 
within their particular jurisdictions. Ten per 
cent, was also imposed upon the income of all 
real property; — ostensibly, for the purpose 
of rebuilding and repairing places of worship — 
for the reparation of the ecclesiastical semina- 
ries — and for the purchase of dwellings for the 
ministers of religion-— both catholic and pro- 
testant. 

The amount of the additional centimes col- 
lected for the discharge of expenses of a gene- 
ral nature, — such as those of public instruction 
and of the administration of justice, is received 
by the treasury, and appropriated to the avow- 
ee} object or not, according to the discretion or 
the necessities of the executive. The remainder 
is retained in the hands of the public authori- 



137 

ties of the departments, who are responsible 
to the treasury for its application. Peuchet,* in 
stating the sum which this branch of revenue 
yields to the exchequer, acknowledges that a 
much more considerable one remains behind with 
the provincial administrations. The minister of 
the treasury, in his report for one thousand eight 
hundred and seven, estimates the amount re- 
ceived by his department at fifty millions. f 
We may venture to affirm that about double 
this amount was reserved in the hands of the 
provincial authorities for local purposes. The 
councils may, at any time, propose to the go- 
vernment such an additional percentage, as the 
domestic interests of their departments seem 
to require. The government may, also, at any 
period, by a special law, impose an additional 
tax of this sort, either conformably to a propo- 
sition of the councils, or according to exigen- 
cies of state produced by the war, or other un- 
expected causes.% Additional centimes have al- 

* Statis'ique de la France, p. 519. 

t EtatA. 

\ Loi sur les finances, — Budget, 1807, p. 122. 

s 



138 

so been levied upon the indirect taxes, un- 
der the name of a war- tax. 

Under the title of octrois de bienfaisance, du- 
ties are levied upon provisions of every de- 
scription, carried into the cities of France. The 
product of these duties is received by the local 
authorities, and applied to municipal pur- 
poses, — the chief of which is the improvement 
of hospitals, prisons, &c. It is on this account 
that they are qualified as duties of charity. In 
the management of this fund, the municipal of- 
ficers are subject to the authority of the minis- 
ter of finance, without whose permission no- 
thing can be disbursed by the receiver, — in 
districts, — the revenue of w T hich exceeds twen- 
ty thousand francs. Ten per cent, is levied 
upon the net produce of these duties for what is 
termed the pain de soupe des troupes^ a contri- 
bution for the subsistence of the troops in the 
neighbourhood of the cities resembling the 
Annona Militaris of the Romans. 



13$ 

Before the revolution, the administration of the 
finances was committed to the sole care of a direc- 
tor or controller general. It is now divided into 
two distinct departments under the management 
of different ministers, — the one entitled the mi- 
nister of the treasury; the other the minister of 
the finances. The latter superintends the exe- 
cution of the laws, relative to the assessment and 
collection of the taxes, — regulates all the esta- 
blishments, such as the post-office, the customs, 
&c. which yield a revenue to the exchequer,— 
and issues orders for the public payments w 7 hich 
are made by the treasury. He is supposed to act 
only by virtue, either of a general law, of an 
arrete of the executive — or of a mandat or or- 
der from a minister. The treasury is the cen- 
tral point of all receipts and disbursements. 
The minister of this department is charged 
with the verification of the sums received and 
paid over to him by the collectors, — with all 
public payments when warranted by an order 
from the minister of finance — and with the 
guardianship of the grand livre or book of in- 
scriptions for the public debt. 



140 

Both ministers exhibit annually a separate 
budget, prefaced by an exposition of the state of 
their respective departments. The report of the 
minister of finance is accompanied by an eluci- 
dation of its various items, and a general sur- 
vey of the financial resources of the empire. 
Their accounts are subject to the revision of 
a committee, consisting of seven members, ap- 
pointed by the conservative senate, who bear 
the name of the committee of national account- 
ability — comptabilite nationals An exposition 
of the amount of the revenue and expenditure 
is submitted every month to the Emperor, who 
allots to each department of state, the sum which 
the supposed wants of the department require. 
It was solemnly decreed in one thousand eight 
hundred and five, by asenatus consultum, that 
the budget should receive the visa of the arch- 
chancellor as an important formality! As the 
revenue cannot be realized within the year, 
the accounts are left open and stated in the 
budget of the following year under the title of 
exercises. .These open accounts, which are re- 
peated for three or four years, considerably in- 



141 
qrease both the volume and the intricacy of the 
budgets. 

In the pompous addresses of the two minis- 
ters to the emperor, much stress is laid on the 
utility accruing to the public from these re- 
ports — on the magnanimity displayed by the 
government in the publication of them — and 
on the satisfaction which the community must 
draw from the knowledge they afford of the 
just and wise application of the public treasure. 
It will not therefore be irrelevant to my general 
purpose, to indulge in a few remarks on this 
subject, before I proceed to explain the manner 
in which the revenue is collected. 

I scarcely need suggest that these reports 
are prepared under the immediate inspection of 
the Emperor — and by those who are the mere 
slaves of his will. They are subject to no legis- 
lative scrutiny whatever, and are exhibited to 
the deliberative assemblies as a proof of impe- 
rial condescension. Notwithstanding the boast 
with regard to the notoriety given them, they 



142 

are presented only in part to the public, in the 
columns of the Moniteur. The full reports 
are reserved for the functionaries of the two de- 
partments, with the exception of a few copies for 
the members of the legislative bodies. In con- 
gratulating the Emperor on the improvements 
which he had made in the machine* of the trea- 
sury, the minister mentions in terms of lively 
satisfaction, the circumstance of his having ren- 
dered its movements so simple zwdfree, —that 
his department was at length relieved from the 
necessity of entrusting foreign agents, agens 
Strangers, with the discharge of its first duties 
and the secret of its most important operations.! 
By foreign agents he means persons not em- 
ployed in the treasury office. This language 
needs no comment. 

The public, in fact, could derive no advan- 
tage from the free circulation of these documents, 
if they were suffered to go abroad. Each re- 

* Robespierre entitled the Convention, his M .chine 
a Decrets. The term is well chosen by the minister of 
the treasury. 

t Report, 1807. Preface. 



143 

port occupies about one hundred and forty 
quarto pages, and is studiously couched in a 
language almost unintelligible even to those 
who are most familiar with the phraseology 
and details of fiscal calculation.* The series 
of reports, denominated the general accounts, 
" Les comptes generaux du tresor public et de 
V administration des finances" which I have 
now before me, abound with the grossest con- 
tradictions. To detect them, requires a mi- 
nute investigation and thorough comprehension 

* Such for instance as the following phrase — " Votre 
" majeste a mis un terme a cette multiplicity de comptes 
" d'exercisesconcurremment ouverts qui sous le pretexte 
" de conserver a chaque creancier la specialite du gage 
" promis, inquietait tous les creanciers par Peventualite de 
" la realization dece gage," &c. — Oras follows — u chaque 
« fait de comptabilite est necessairement complexe; car 
" il constate un acte qui, s'il degage i'un, engage neces- 
" sairement un autre. Ainsi, chaque fait met en rapport 
" necessaire et en opposition deux interets — le credit 
" de l'un et le debit de l'autre.— C'est dans cette observa- 
" tion exacte du double interet qui characterize chaque 
" fait, et dans cette opposition des deux interets que la 
" comptabilite en parti e double a pris, avec sa denomina- 
" tion, la garantie de son exactitude et l'element du 
" controle efficace qu'elle emploie," &c. (Ministere du 
Tresor — budget, 1807.) 



144 

of the entire reports, which few can under- 
stand who have not enjoyed particular aids. 
The vanity, however, of the different ministers, 
who have succeeded each other, has prompted 
them to indulge in obscure hints relative to the 
abuses which existed under their predecessors 
— and their eagerness to exhibit the sagacity 
and vigilance of the Emperor in the strongest 
light, has betrayed them into an occasional 
disclosure of the enormous evils which the 
budget of every consecutive year has reprodu- 
ced and extinguished. The prosperity of the 
present and the future is always without alloy. 
It is from their lamentations over the past and 
from much personal inquiry and observation, 
during my residence in Paris, that I have de- 
rived a knowledge of the abuses which I 
have undertaken to suggest. 

I must also remark of the budgets that until 
the year 1806, they present nearly an exact 
arithmetical equality of the receipts and dis- 
bursements. The minister of the treasury, 
however, in his report of 1807, felicitates the 



145 

Emperor, on having discovered that this perfect 
equation, — the complete symmetry which was 
thought to argue so wonderful a degree of or- 
der and foresight, proved too much: — that it 
could be no other than a fortuitous result at 
all times and was of no real utility, &x. There 
is moreover, something curious, in the gloss, 
which, — in the report of the preceding year, 
— is put upon the accumulation of all the pub- 
lic funds in one common recipient — the trea- 
sury, — and on the arbitrary application of those 
funds to general purposes. The rejection or 
disregard of all specific appropriations by gene- 
ral law, would, in every other country, be con- 
sidered as fatal to public liberty, and necessa- 
rily productive of the most mischievous dis- 
orders. But in France these viremens as they 
are styled, — the appropriation, for instance, 
of the capital of the sinking fund to the wants 
of the war ministry, with a supposed intention 
of reimbursing that fund, — are qualified as 
reciprocal loans, calculated to facilitate the 
public service and to promote the circulation 

of specie! I must add on the subject of these 

T 



146 

reports that I have conversed much with intel- 
ligent members of the treasury in Paris, and 
have never known one, who did not consider 
them, as a mere stalkinghorse for the mal- 
versation of the government. They are at the 
same time rendered subservient to the views 
of the Emperor, in securing the adherence of 
the subordinate agents, whom this semblance 
of order would enable him the more easily to 
destroy by accusations of irregularity and cor- 
ruption. 



Every village and commune of France has a 
collector or tax-gatherer, who pays over the 
amount of his receipts to a treasurer called a 
particular receiver — of whom there is one for 
every district. There is also a receiver -general, 
for each department, into whose hands the par- 
ticular receivers convey the sums drawn from 
the collectors, and who communicate immedi- 
ately with the treasury. They are all under the 
active superintendence of an administration, 
xmtitled the direction of the taxes — direction des 



147 

contributions. This administration consists of a 
director- general — of inspectors, verificators, 
controllers, &c. and of various other functiona- 
ries — whose province it is — to watch over the 
receivers and tax-gatherers, and to regulate 
and expedite the collection of the taxes. In 
1805, the number of chief officers, employes en 
chef, belonging to the direction of the taxes, 
amounted throughout the empire, without in- 
cluding Piedmont, to 1044 — 254 controllers of 
the first class, 588 of the second, Sec. The ad- 
ministrations for the collection of the indirect 
taxes, employ likewise an immense multitude 
of directors, sub-directors, inspectors, sub- 
inspectors, clerks, verificators, visitors, con- 
trollers, receivers, excisemen, preposes and 
simples employes, hussiers, regisseurs, Sec. 
These, together with the agents employed in 
the collection of the direct-taxes, are all no- 
minated by the Emperor, and form a host of 
unproductive labourers, — of spies and petty 
tyrants, who, — while they devour the sub- 
stance of the people, promote, as a domestic 



148 

inquisition, the political as well as the fiscal 
desDotism of their natrons. 



despotism of their patrons 



The tax-gatherers, (les percepteurs) are en- 
titled to five per cent, on all they collect — and 
the receivers to the same percentage on what- 
ever is emptied into their chest. The agents 
of the different regies, upon which the col- 
lection of the indirect taxes devolves, are 
recompensed in the same way. This mode of 
payment, — by allowing the revenue officers a 
certain proportion of their receipts, — has been 
selected in order to quicken their zeal and to 
secure their fidelity. The budgets state merely 
the net produce of the taxes, after a deduction 
of these discounts and of all the expenses of col- 
lection. The latter are, therefore to be consi- 
dered as additional charges upon the people — 
of no small amount. 

Under the old monarchy, according to 
Necker, the expenses of collection, amounted 
to fifty-eight millions of livres, — 10| per cent 



149 

on the totality of the taxes paid by the people.^ 
Peuchet, after acknowledging that there are 
no positive data, upon which such a calculation 
could be made in France at this moment^ ac- 
knowledges, however, that the expenses of 
collection on the land-tax alone, could not 
have been lower, in 1803, than 16| per cent 
The charges of the same kind on the other 
taxes are still more considerable according to 
the statements of the minister of finance. I 
should calculate them at twenty per cent, at 
least, taking into consideration solely the in- 
crease in the number of the revenue officers 
and the high poundage to which they are enti- 
tled.:]: 

Necker conjectures that, in his time the ad- 
dition made to the burdens of the people by 

* Admin: des Fin: ch: 3. tome i. 

t Statistique, p. 524. 

% According to Sir John Sinclair (History of the Re- 
venue, vol. 2d, p. 109) — the expense of collecting the 
land tax in England in 1788, was only three per cent.-r- 
and the whole revenue was then collected at an expense 
of seven and a half per cent. (vol. 2d, p. 162,) The pro- 
portion is very little higher at this moment. 



150 

the expenses of lawsuits, writs and seizures, 
incident to delinquency with regard to the pay- 
ment of the taxes, — amounted to about seven 
million five hundred thousand livres. The 
minister of finance in his report of 1806, states 
that these expenses, which are called frais de 
poursuite, bore a mean proportion of jfo to the 
amount of the direct taxes. In seme depart- 
ments, the ratio was ^ and still higher. It 
should be noticed that this is the cost incurred 
by the government in enforcing payment of 
the direct taxes and must be attended by much 
heavier losses to the unfortunate delinquents. 
The injuries sustained by the people, from 
judicial sales and seizures — costs of litigation 
and obscure vexations, which Dr. Smith so 
often and so emphatically declares to be equi- 
valent to expense, and from the fines super- 
added to the confiscation and sale of movables, 
cannot, — with respect to the collection of the 
indirect taxes, — be susceptible of any certain 
valuation, but must evidently be much more 
considerable now than under the old regime, 
» — -when all the channels of domestic prosperity 



151 

were open to the nation, and the characteristic 
severities of arbitrary power mitigated and 
tempered by the influence of public opinion 
and of the social virtues. 

In the time of Necker, the farmers- general — 
the general and particular-receivers, and all the 
subalterns in the service of the treasury, advan- 
ced sums to the government as securities for 
the faithful discharge of their trust. For these 
securities, they were paid an interest of five per 
cent, and in some cases, of seven. The present 
government has adopted the same system with 
regard to the new receivers and collectors, who, 
now deposit, individually, in the exchequer, a 
sum in cask, — under the title of cautionnement 
or pledge, — equal to the one-twelfth of all the 
public money which passes through their hands. 
The minister of finance very properly denomi- 
nates these securities — a loan — and of no small 
magnitude, as they amounted, according to 
the budget of one thousand eight hundred and 
five, to eighty-five millions of francs. Noplau^ 
sible objection could be raised against this plan. 



152 

if it were confined merely to the agents of the 
treasury in order to prevent insolvency or pecu- 
lation on their part; but it has been extended, 
in a most arbitrary manner, to other classes of 
persons, and converted into an expedient for 
the creation of a new fund applicable to the ge- 
neral expenses of the state. 

All bankers, lawyers, notaries, brokers, ju- 
dicial officers, butchers, &c. — and, in general, 
all persons exercising responsible trades and 
professions, are compelled to deposit similar 
securities in cash, — according to a graduated 
scale. I was informed by a notary of the second 
order in Paris — that he had been called upon to 
advance thirty thousand francs, about six thou- 
sand dollars, as a cautionnement, before he 
could obtain permission to act in his profession- 
al capacity. Since the enactment of the law, ad- 
ditions, under the name of supplementary secu- 
rities, have been made every year to the origi- 
nal demand, and new offices* created, in order 

* " Vingt nouvelles places d'agens de change," says 
the; budget of 1807, " ont donne— 1,000,000 francs." 



153 

tp 'augment this fund, so that it has hitherto 
worn the aspect of a permanent branch of reve- 
nue. The law provides that the surns thus 
deposited, are to be refunded on the death or 
resignation of the parties, — but as their suc- 
cessors renew them, no portion of them is in 
fact withdrawn from the treasury. The whole 
sum which this system has yielded, must be 
considerably more than one hundred millions of 
francs. 

The interest assigned to the contributors, 
was originally five and six per cent.; but in one 
thousand eight hundred and eight, it was redu- 
ced to four and five per cent. Even this, incon- 
siderable as it is, when compared with the usual 
rates in France, is not regularly discharged. 
The payment of it was charged on the came 
d'amortissement, or sinking fund, — on the na- 
ture of which I shall touch in a subsequent 
page. The caisse cPamortissement, however, has 
been uniformly devoted to the general expenses 
of the state. The specific objects of the fund 

have been either wholly disregarded, or onlv 

U 



154 

partially gratified. In one thousand eight hun- 
dred and six, it was decreed, that it should, 
for that — as well as for the succeeding year, — 
be indemnified for the sums which it was en- 
titled to claim from the treasury for the dis- 
charge of the national debt, and the payment of 
the interest of the securities, by a delegation or 
eession to its use of national domains — valued 
at twenty years purchase * This proceeding- 
was equivalent to a breach of faith; and, like 
the whole system of jobbing in national do- 
mains, of a most pernicious tendency with re- 
gard to public morals. It must be almost super- 
fluous to suggest that these securities are, in 
fact, forced 'loans, disguised under another name, 
the suppression of which is so often proclaimed 
by the minister of finance as one of the most 
important of the reforms produced by the new 
organization of his department. They operate, 
at the same time, as a strong tie upon the loyal- 
ty of the contributors of every description, — 
who are well satisfied that both principal and 

* Budget, 1807, p. 9. 



155 

interest would vanish on the dissolution of the 
present government. 

The general receivers draw bills on them- 
selves, at the commencement of the year, in fa- 
vour of the government, — payable the fifteenth 
of every month, — for the whole amount of the 
direct taxes, and bills at sight, for the amount 
of such of the indirect taxes as are paid over to 
them. The particular receivers draw in the same 
manner in favour of the general receivers, bills 
payable fifteen days before those of the latter fall 
due. The collectors pursue the same course 
with regard to the particular receivers. The 
bills at sight are distributed among the pay- 
masters for the public service. The rest are 
negotiated by the treasury. The sinking-fund 
is charged with the payment of such as are pro- 
tested. The loss sustained by the government 
in negotiating the paper emitted on account of 
the direct taxes, although every motive conspires 
to induce a regular payment on the part of the 
receivers, may be alleged as a criterion of the 
state of public credit in France. It was fifteen 



156 

millions of francs in one thousand eight hun- 
dred and two — eighteen millions in one thou- 
sand eight hundred and four — and sixteen mil- 
lions in one thousand eight hundred and six. 
The minister of finance in his report for one 
thousand eight hundred and seven, complains, 
that he was compelled, in the commencement of 
the preceding year, to negotiate the bills of the 
receivers at a discount of one and one-sixteenth 
per month. He assigns causes for this enormous 
discount which are somewhat curious when 
contrasted with the flattering representations of 
the budget of one thousand eight hundred and 
six. They are conveyed in the following com- 
pliment to the emperor, " It belonged to your 
" majesty alone, when the treasury experienced 
" a deficit of one hundred millions ', and the re- 
" sources of public credit seemed to be exhaust- 
" ed 9 to correct these disorders at once, and to 
" enable your minister to moderate the dis- 
" count when the wants of the treasury exacted 
" a more abundant emission of paper. " In a 
preceding report he animadverts severely on 
the abuses practised in the negotiation of the 



157 

bills, by stock-jobbers and others, who wer»e 
disposed to fatten on the necessities of the state. 

The caisse d'amortissement, or sinking 
fund, was originally formed from the capital 
of the securities of the receivers, and the 
ostensible purpose of its creation, was the 
discharge of the interest of those securities. 
Upon the cession of national domains to its 
use, and the extortion of supplementary se- 
curities, — the government thought proper to 
announce that the reduction of the national 
debt would come " within the sphere of its ac- 
tivity." In this respect only, it bears an affini- 
ty to the fund of the same name in England, 
which is destined to produce such important 
benefits to that country, and constantly serves 
as a rich fund of credit. The caisse d'amor- 
tissement enjoys no such advantage — and as I 
have before observed, has been uniformly de- 
flected from its ostensible purposes. It is con- 
verted into a mere expedient for the supply of 
the immediate wants of the government, and 
has contributed rather to augment than to di- 



158 

minish the amount of the public debt, as may 
be seen from the reports of the minister of fi- 
nance himself.* The substitution of national 
domains for the regular proceeds of the fund, 
is, in fact, tantamount to an insolvency for it, 
and makes it subservient to new violations of 
public faith. The holders of the tiers consolides, 
were authorised to tender them in payment for 
the national domains ceded to the fund, and it 
was by the acquisition of this stock, that it was 
to reduce the national debt. Such in fact, would 
have been the effect of this operation, although 
attended by considerable loss, if the govern- 
ment did not lay violent hands upon the stock 
when obtained, as well as upon every resource 
of the fund. 

My limits will not permit me to undertake a 
particular investigation concerning the security 
of public faith at this moment in France; — a 
subject on which the ministers of the new go- 
vernment dwell with great apparent complacen- 

* See Budget of 1 807, under the head of Caissc cVJmot- 
lissemetot. 



159 

cy, in all their official reports. I shall, however, 
venture to offer a few details, — the result of my 
own observation, — which may serve to evince 
the sense, which these gentlemen entertain, of 
the true elements of public credit. During my 
residence in Paris, motives of friendship to- 
wards an individual in whose concerns I took 
a lively interest, induced me to attend to the 
progress of a large claim which he was then 
prosecuting on the ministry of the marine. This 
circumstance led me to frequent the bureaux — 
and gave me an opportunity of obtaining an ex- 
perimental knowledge of the manner in which 
business is transacted in that department. The 
claim had been pending for some years, and 
was founded upon bills of exchange, drawn on 
the office of the marine by the French charge 
des affaires in this country, in consequence of 
contracts into which he had entered here, and 
which were regularly fulfilled by the claimant. 
According to the general principles of justice 
and to the usages which other governments 
have thought it, on all occasions, indispen- 
sably necessary to follow — in order to preserve 



160 

their credit abroad, these bills were not open 
to contravention or discussion, and should 
have been paid conformably to their tenor. 
The bills however were not merely rejected, 
but the contracts themselves, which the chargS 
des affaires, had been specifically empowered 
to make, — were rescinded, and the creditor 
was called upon to substantiate his claim by 
original documents and minute vouchers,-— ex* 
isting in this country, — and not to be procur- 
ed without great difficulty and delay. Such, as 
I have reason to know, has been the uniform 
course of proceeding in this department, except 
in oases where it was necessary to support a 
temporary credit, in order to secure the com- 
pletion of contracts, only in a course of exe r 
cution. 

From the fate of the abovementioned claim, 
I discovered that all demands not liquidated or 
admitted within the year, were thrown into 
what is termed the arriere, or classed under the 
arrears of the department; and that, how- 
ever sacred the nature of the $zht x — payment 



161 

^could be expected only in the mode which I 
shall proceed to explain. I have before stated 
that the Emperor makes a monthly allotment of 
funds to the departments of state, according 
to the conception which he may form of the 
urgency of their wants, — or of the importance 
of sustaining the credit, and promoting the 
service of a particular department. Although 
the expenditure of the ministry of the marine 
has been actually immense — the appropria- 
tions to this branch of the public service, 
which is altogether of secondary importance 
in his scheme of policy, have been uniformly 
insufficient for the current charges of the year 
The arrears, therefore, created in order to di- 
minish these charges, — in violation of every 
maxim of justice, and even of prudence, if 
the preservation of public credit were an ob- 
ject, — are in fact left unpaid: — but it was no- 
minally provided that they should be discharg- 
ed with the bons, or paper of the sinking fund: 
— thus converting the principal of the debt in 
arrear into an annuity of six per cent, which 

during mv residence in Paris, could not be 

X 



I(i2 

disposed of in the market, — but at an enormous 
loss. 

As these arrears do not make part of the na- 
tional debt properly so called, this alienation of 
the paper of the sinking fund, is, as you may 
observe, a strange irregularity. The whole pro- 
ceeding would, indeed, amount to a periodical 
bankruptcy for the department, even if the 
paper or six per cents, were actually applied to 
the discharge of its arrears. But the appropria- 
tion depends upon the will of the Emperor 
which is not allways favourable — and again — 
upon the discretion of the minister of the ma- 
rine, who finds it more convenient to render 
this resource when granted, instrumental to 
his relief from the exigencies of the moment. 
These causes have operated to prevent the pay- 
ment of the claim to which I have particularly 
alluded, — although it has long since been offici- 
ally acknowledged or liquidated. Upon a repre- 
sentation of the case to the minister of the 
marine, the reason assigned both in his verbal 
and written replies for a delay so fatal to the 



163 

creditor, has uniformly been, — that the Empe- 
ror had made no allotment for the payment of 
his arrears — that is to say, — that he wanted 
funds for the fulfilment of his engagements. An 
extraordinary plea this for the head of a principal 
department of state, — under a monarch, whose 
ministers so ostentatiously proclaim on all oc- 
casions the inviolability of his faith and the ex- 
uberance of his resources! The solemn hypo- 
crisy, and grave, systematic falsehood of their 
official documents; — this prostitution of the ce- 
remonial of government, which should be as 
hallowed as the rites of the altar or of the judg- 
ment seat — exhibits, according to my mind, 
something still more profligate in the concep- 
tion and dangerous in the example — than the 
flagitious but open doctrines, and the relentless 
but undissembled violence of their revolution- 
ary predecessors. 

By the sacrifice of one half of such claims it 
is possible to dispose of them to the secret 
agents of the minister ', or of the chief clerks of 
the department — who then secure full payment 
for themselves — to the neglect and injury of 



164 
such creditors as are unwilling to accede to 
this wretched compromise. The chief clerks 
scarcely hesitate to hold a direct communica- 
tion with the victims of their rapacity, and 
openly support establishments, the expenses of 
which, as they far exceed the amount of their 
salaries, are obviously defrayed from the pro- 
fits of this species of robbery. Exclusive of 
their emissaries, — numbers of hungry sharpers 
hang about the public offices and crowd the 
stock exchanges, — watching the fallen counte- 
nance of the repulsed creditor; and prepared, 
— when fatigue and disappointment drive him 
to despair, — to speculate upon his miseries,— 
either by the purchase of his claim, — or by the 
extortion of money under the pretext of brib- 
ing influence in his favour. One whom circum- 
stances have not brought into contact, as it 
were, with this iniquitous traffic, cannot easily 
imagine to what an extent it is pursued, — and 
what a scene of dark, mysterious, profligate in- 
trigue is unfolded to the view on a near inspec- 
tion. There is connected with this subject, ano- 
ther kind of exhibition, — in its effect not dissi- 



165 

milar to the most tragical forms of the drama , 
which a person habituated by the institutions of 
his country to ideas of justice and equality, 
cannot readily forget. I mean the public audi- 
ence of the minister of the marine for the pur- 
pose of receiving petitions and remonstrances 3 
held once every month. I attended this meet- 
ing several times, and witnessed a spectacle of 
wretchedness and brutality not often parallel- 
ed. The contrast between the splendid cos- 
tume of the minister and of his attendants— 
and the squalid appearance of the tremblingsup- 
pliants about him was not more striking — than 
the savage insensibility and vulgar insolence 
with which he stifled the tale of their distresses. 
Sometimes, however, despair breaks through 
all considerations of power and rank, and on 
two or three occasions, when I was present, 
gave rise to bitter reproaches and to bold ex- 
postulation — calculated to develop more fully 
the systematic injustice of this department. 
These bursts are never suffered to pass with 
impunity, but no degree of coercion can at all 
times restrain the impetuous feelings of our na- 



166 

ture, when goaded by the fear of want and 
exasperated by the oppression of tyrants who 
—in the case of their own subjects, — scarcely 
deign to employ a pretence to varnish over 
their excesses. 

Their bad faith has been productive of the 
consequences which may always be expected, 
when the same course is pursued. This policy 
is at all times, not that of economy, but of ex- 
treme prodigality. The French rulers, whate- 
ver may be their power, are unable to obtain 
supplies at home — but by sacrifices equivalent 
to the risk which is incurred by contracting 
with them. Their credit abroad may be estima- 
ted by the fact which is so well known to us 
all, that no intelligent merchant in this country 
can be induced by any consideration, to make 
advances in their favour, or to accept a bill on 
their treasury, from their highest accredited 
agent. 



I shall now proceed to lay before you my 
estimate of the permanent revenue of the go- 



167 

vernment, and of the burdens imposed upon 
the people of France. My calculations will be 
drawn from the acknowledgments of the minis- 
ter of the treasury, — and supported by conjec- 
tures, in which, those who reflect on the prece- 
ding details, will readily acquiesce. 

In the budget of one thousand eight hun- 
dred and six, the sums paid over to the treasu- 
ry by the receivers, are stated at eight hundred 
and seventy- seven millions, one hundred and 
eighty-three thousand, five hundred and eighty- 
one francs.* Besides these, a considerable 
amount is deposited separately by the admini- 
strations of the indirect taxes, and received 
from other quarters. The addition of this 
amount makes, according to the budget, one 
thousand one hundred and thirty-three mil- 
lions, two hundred and thirty-three thousand, 
six hundred and ninety- one francs, f — for the 
whole receipts of the treasury at Paris during 
one thousand eight hundred and six. In this 
sum, however, are included about one hundred 

* P. 5. Etat A. t P. 63. Ejtat FF, 



168 

millions on account of arrears for the preceding 
" exercises" This amount is, at the same time, 
nearly balanced by that of such part of the taxes 
for one thousand eight hundred and six, as 
could not be collected within that year. I shall 
adopt at a low calculation the sum of one thou- 
sand and fifty millions of francs as the net reve- 
nue of one thousand eight hundred and six. 



In order to ascertain the whole amount of the 
burdens laid upon the people, which must, in 
every country, exceed the net revenue, — we 
must add various items to this sum of one thou- 
sand and fifty millions. 1st, The expenses of 
collection, which, if they reached fifty- eight 
millions under the old monarchy, cannot at pre- 
sent fall short of one hundred and fifty millions 
—including the illegal exactions of the revenue 
officers. 2d, The taxes paid for local and de- 
partmental expenses amounting to at least one 
hundred millions;— it being obviously the po- 
licy of the government to throw as heavy a load 
on the municipalities as possible. 3d, Another 



169 

one hundred millions for disbursements of a 
miscellaneous nature, such as the injuries sus- 
tained by judicial seizures, &c. Under this 
head I include the sums actually received into 
the treasury, — but suppressed in the budget 
for the convenience of the government. I have 
heard this surplus alone estimated by an intel- 
ligent member of the treasury department, at 
more than one hundred millions. The savings 
expended by the middling classes on their chil- 
dren, who are with the armies, in order to ren- 
der their situation more comfortable, may be 
considered as a heavy taxation. The sums paid 
to substitutes are to be viewed in the same 
light. A conscript who obtains a substitute pays 
not only a gratuity to the latter, but an indem- 
nity to the government. In the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred, the indemnities yielded 
twelve millions of francs. The difficulty which 
exists at this moment, of obtaining proxies, has 
curtailed this branch of revenue, but has, at 
the same time, aggravated the most grievous 
of all impositions, — that of personal service. 

Y 



170 . 

Reasoning from the above data, I shall not 
hesitate to compute the whole amount of the 
public burdens of France at one thousand two 
hundred millions of francs — nearly sixty mil- 
lions sterling — and I am well satisfied that this 
estimate is much below the real amount. 

The minister of the treasury, in stating the 
sums paid over to his department by the re- 
ceivers during three months of one thousand 
eight hundred and five, and the whole of one 
thousand eight hundred and six, at nine hun- 
dred and eighty-six millions of francs, calcu- 
lates the expenses of that period at nine hun- 
dred and thirty-two millions — leaving a small 
balance in favour of the treasury. It is not easy 
to reconcile the existence, even of this balance^, 
with an acknowledged defalcation of one hun- 
dred millions in the beginning of one thousand 
eight hundred and six — and it should be re- 
marked, moreover, that it is entirely forgotten 
in the estimate of the ways and means of the 
following year. I have had from persons in Pa- 
ris, who enjoy access to the most correct in* 



171 

formation, positive evidence, that the nominal, 
falls far short of the real expenditure. Inde- 
pendently of this testimony, there are consi- 
derations arising out of a view of the detailed 
statement of the minister of the treasury on this 
head, which would leave the same conviction 
on my mind, 

In one thousand eight hundred, the sum de- 
manded by the minister of police for the ser- 
vice of his department, included one million 
two hundred thousand francs for secret expen- 
ses alone. It is not probable that he requires 
less at this moment for the same purpose; but 
in the budget of one thousand eight hundred 
and seven, the totality of his expenses is puf 
down at eight hundred and eighty-one thousand 
francs only! In the year one thousand eight hun- 
dred, the minister of war also, called for four 
hundred and thirty-six millions when his esta- 
blishment was less considerable than at pre- 
sent, and the harvest of foreign contributions 
still more abundant. His expenses for one thou? 
sand eight hundred and six are slated at two 



172 

hundred and ninety-three millions— a sum 
which bears no proportion to the real amount. 

It is not a little curious to remark, that in 
the time of the Directory, when the wants of 
the several departments of state were submitted 
to the legislative bodies, the sum demanded 
by the departments collectively, was no less 
than nine hundred and twelve millions of francs. 
The consuls, on their accession to power, pom- 
pously announced their intention of reducing 
this amount, for the following year, to four 
hundred and fifteen millions. It was under- 
stood, however, that they calculated upon fo- 
reign contributions to supply the deficiencies 
which might occur. Ramel observes, that it 
was thought by some " that it would be more 
" prudent to rely upon permanent and settled 
" imposts, on account of the possibility of a 
V reverse of fortune, and because a dependence 
" upon such adventitious aids, might generate 
* thVthirst of conquest. The government, how* 
" ever, believed that the proofs which they had 



173 

" given of their pacific intentions, authorised 
" them to overlook these considerations, &c."* 

The disbursements of the department of 
foreign affairs are stated at something more 
than seven millions for the year eighteen hun* 
dred and six. In the time of Necker, they 
amounted to fourteen. Those who have attend- 
ed to the history of the foreign policy of the 
present ruler, will not be disposed to admit 
that the cost of the foreign office is less now 
than it was in the year seventeen hundred 
and eighty-nine. The appropriation made for 
the expenses of the imperial household, dur- 
ing the last year, was twenty-eight millions 
of francs: somewhat more than eleven hun- 
dred thousand pounds sterling. In this sum, 
three millions are included for the use of the 
princes. The expenses of the former court 
amounted to thirty-one millions of livres. The 
additional magnificence of the present establish- 
ment, — the multitude of imperial palaces and 

* P. 85, Hist: des Fin: 



174 

parks, — and the liberal gratifications applied to 
conciliate the zeal, and to reward the services, 
indispensable for the consolidation of a new 
throne, — would alone warrant the conclusion 
that the imperial household is a much heavier 
charge on the nation, than the court of the 
Bourbons ever could have been. Whoever has 
witnessed the prodigality and rapacity of the 
princes and retainers of the new court, will not 
hesitate to believe that at least fifty millions 
are required for this branch of expenditure. ' 

The whole amount of the burdens of the 
people of France, before the revolution, was 
not, according to the calculation of Necker, 
more than five hundred and eighty-five millions 
of livres. In the enumeration, which this writer 
makes, of the source of public power and 
wealth, at that period, he includes — an in- 
dustrious population of twenty -six millions, — 
flourishing manufactures, of the most lucrative 
kind, — opulent colonies, the annual products 
of which, imported into France, yielded not 
less than one hundred and twenty millions of 



175 

livres, — a balance of trade, estimated at seven- 
ty millions, — an annual increase of forty mil- 
lions in the current specie, the whole amount 
of which nearly equalled that of all the other 
states of Europe collectively.* These advan- 
tages relieved the people, by furnishing the 
means of supporting their burdens. In every 
question of this kind, it is not merely the a- 
mountofthe contributions paid to a government, 
but the ability also to discharge them, which 
must be considered. Under the former govern- 
ment of France, taxes could not be arbitrarily 
imposed. The parliaments exercised a control 
over the court on this subject, — frequently in- 
tercepted the will of the monarch, — and finally 
defeated all the financial plans of the last minis- 
ters of Louis the Sixteenth. 

Let now the extent of the former bur- 
dens of Frane, be compared with those of 
the present day: — with fourteen hundred mil- 
lions of francs levied upon a people deprived, 

* Admin: des Fin: vol. 3d, p. 407, 



176 

in a great degree, of commerce and manu- 
factures, the two most productive branches 
of income, and the springs which feed agri- 
culture; — whom a long succession of foreign 
and domestic wars has impoverished beyond 
measure, while it has deranged their habits 
of industry, and corrupted their morals: — • 
whose internal consumption is greatly dimi- 
nished: — much of whose specie is locked out of 
circulation: — whose government, equally rapa- 
cious and prodigal, is subject to no restraint 
whatever in the imposition of taxes, and pos- 
sesses at the same time the means of enforcing 
the collection of such as necessity or caprice 
may dictate. 

Those who will be at the trouble of exam- 
ining the various sources of revenue under the 
old government, will find that not one has been 
overlooked by the new rulers. The twentieths, 
the droits d'aide, or excise on wines and bran- 
dies, the gabelle and the disme, — from the sup- 
pression of which so much benefit was antici- 
pated by the Constituent Assembly, — have alJ 



177 

been revived under different names, but with 
an operation still more oppressive. If the cor- 
vees, — the evils of which were so much exag- 
gerated by the enemies of the old government, 
— no longer exist, — the labour to which the 
refractory conscripts are condemned on the high 
roads is at least an equivalent. The farmers- 
general who enjoyed but too large a share of 
the profits of the exchequer under the old 
monarchy, were models of disinterestedness 
and frugality in comparison with the army 
contractors and court-bankers of the present 
day. The luxury of the former was productive 
and elegant. It nourished the fine arts and the 
useful manufactures: — it displayed itself in the 
munificent patronage of men of science and of 
letters; — it contributed to advance the progress 
of national literature; to promote the refine- 
ments of polished intercourse — and thus to 
uphold the solid glory and to multiply the 
social honours of the French name. 

The luxury of those whom the fortune of 

war and the wants of the armies have enriched 
Z 



178 

is equally devoid of taste and generosity. It 
is that of robbers, who observe neither order 
nor proportion in the dissipation of their for- 
tunes; — who either squander with undistin* 
guishing profusion or hoard with sordid par- 
simony, the wealth which is suddenly and 
precariously acquired. While the treasure of 
the people is let out through innumerable 
orifices, it does not return to the proper ab- 
sorbents, — nor perform the course which makes 
taxation a benefit in regular and civil monar- 
chies. The fruits of rapine in France are con- 
sumed in pampering the sensual appetites and 
gratifying the worst propensities of our nature. 
They circulate among the class of men who 
minister to the vices and passions of the great 
and increase the corruption by which they 
live.* 

* This distinction with regard to the different charac- 
ters which luxury may assume, is happily explained by- 
Sir James Steuart in his Political Economy — vol. 1. b. 2. 
ch. 22d. — See also on this head — Necker, Adminis: des 
Fin:— p. HI. vol. 3d. 



179 

In England the great hereditary and acquir- 
ed fortunes pervade and replenish the whole 
capillary system of the state. By means of a 
diffusive circulation, they quicken the emula- 
tion and reward the labours of every branch of 
industry. They are expended in the cultiva- 
tion of the soil and in the production of the 
solid materials of national wealth: — in the erec- 
tion and endowment of charitable institutions 
and public monuments, which foster the moral 
qualities and elevate the character. The spirit 
of beneficence and of patriotism which distin- 
guishes the opulent individuals of that country, 
— and of which the same class in France is 
wholly destitute,— -returns to the needy the 
sums which they contribute to the exchequer, 
and corrects the inequalities of the divisions of 
property. 

The traveller in England has occasion to 
remark, — in all the departments of labour, — 
the beneficial influence of the example of the 
upper classes, and of that luxury which has for 
its object the productive toil and ingenuity of 



180 

man. The quick and equable transmission of 
wealth in the body politic is compared by a 
great writer* to the motion and agency of the 
blood, as it centers in the heart, and is thrown 
out by new pulsations. The aptitude of this il- 
lustration is particularly striking in his own 
country, where the rapid circulation of wealth, 
— the regular vibration of demand and labour, 
and the spirit of industry, animate the whole 
frame of society with an elasticity and vigour, 
such as belong to the human frame in its 
highest state of perfection. A peculiarly mas- 
culine character, and the utmost energy of 
feeling are communicated to all orders of men, 
— by the abundance which prevails so univer- 
sally, — the consciousness of equal rights, — 
the fulness of power and fame to which the 
nation has attained, — and the beauty and 
robustness of the species under a climate highly 
favourable to the animal economy. The dig- 
nity of the rich is without insolence, — the sub- 
ordination of the poor without servility, 
Their freedom is well guarded both from the 

* Sir James Steuart. 



181 

dangers of popular licentiousness, and from 
the encroachments of authority. — Their na- 
tional pride leads to national sympathy, 
and is built upon the most legitimate of all 
foundations — a sense of preeminent merit and 
a body of illustrious annals. 

Whatever may be the representations of 
those who, with little knowledge of facts, 
and still less soundness or impartiality of judg- 
ment, — affect to deplore the condition of Eng- 
land, — it is nevertheless, true, that there does 
not exist and never has existed elsewhere, — so 
beautiful and perfect a model of public and 
private prosperity; — so magnificent, and at the 
same time, so solid a fabric of social happiness 
and national grandeur. I pay this just tribute 
of admiration with the more pleasure, as it is 
to me in the light of an atonement for the 
errors and prejudices, under which I laboured,- 
on this subject, before I enjoyed the advantage 
of a personal experience. A residence of nearly 
two years in that country, — during which 
period, I visited and studied almost every part 
of it, — with no other view or pursuit than that 



182 

of obtaining correct information, and I may- 
add, with previous studies well fitted to pro- 
mote my object, — convinced me that I had 
been egregiously deceived. 

I saw no instances of individual oppres- 
sion, and scarcely any individual misery but 
that which belongs, under any circumstances 
of our being, to the infirmity of all human 
institutions. — I witnessed no symptom of de- 
clining trade or of general discontent. On the 
contrary — I found there every indication of a 
state engaged in a rapid career of advancement. 
I found the art and spirit of commercial indus- 
try at their acm£; — a metropolis opulent and 
liberal beyond example: — a cheerful peasantry, 
well fed and com modioli sly lodged, — an ar- 
dent attachment to the constitution in all clas- 
ses, and a full reliance on the national re- 
sources.— I found the utmost activity in 
agricultural and manufacturing labours; — in 
the construction of works of embellishment 
-and utility; — in enlarging and beautifying the 
provincial cities. — I heard but few well found- 
ed complaints of the amount, — and none con- 



183 

cerning the collection, of the taxes. The 
demands of the state create no impediment to 
consumption or discouragement to industry. 
I could discover no instance in which they 
have operated to the serious distress or ruin of 
individuals. 

The riots at Manchester, which were here 
invested almost with the horrors of civil war, 
were scarcely noticed in London, and occa- 
sioned, I will venture to assert, not one 
moment of serious uneasiness either to the 
government, or to any part of the population 
of England beyond the immediate theatre of 
the alarm. Manufacturing employments ne- 
cessarily lead to some degree of individual 
wretchedness, and the fluctuations of trade, 
to a temporary languor in particular branches 
of work. Numerous associations of labourers 
suffering partially from these causes, may be 
easily roused to gusts of sedition, either by 
the excitement of their mutual complaints or 
the arts of factious demagogues. There is 
among the populace of every country a rank 



184 

luxuriance in this respect, which no authori- 
ty however beneficent — no position however 
fortunate, and no general spirit of obedience 
however cheerful, — can at all times repress. 
The disturbances at Manchester were quelled 
without an effusion of blood; and the ring- 
leaders arrainged and punished in the common 
course of law, — without a movement or ex- 
pression in their favour on the part of the mob. 
The whole storm, which was here supposed to 
threaten the most serious consequences, was 
almost as harmless in its effects, and left as 
few traces behind, as the war of the elements 
raised by the wand of Prospero or the thunder 
and lightning of Saddlers- Wells. Tumults of 
this kind in a country having so complicated a 
system of industry, are to be considered as aris- 
ing from the distemperature of a particular 
atmosphere and season, and when so easily 
allayed, — as indicative of the sound and health- 
ful vigour of the political constitution. Not 
long, both before and after the period of the 
outrages of which I speak, I surveyed attentively 
most of the manufacturing establishments and 



185 

saw every reason to conclude that,—- collec- 
tively taken,— they never were in a more 
flourishing condition, nor their tenants more 
loyally disposed. 

The agriculture of England is confessedly 
superior to that of any other part of the world, 
and the condition of those who are engaged in 
the cultivation of the soil, incontestably prefer- 
able to that of the same class in any other sec- 
tion of Europe. An inexhaustible source of 
admiration and delight is found in the unrival- 
led beauty, as well as richness and fruitful- 
ness of their husbandry; the effects of which are 
heightened by the magnificent parks and noble 
mansions of the opulent proprietors: by pictur- 
esque gardens upon the largest scale, and dispo- 
ed with the most exquisite taste: and by gothic 
remains no less admirable in their structure 
than venerable for their antiquity.* The neat 



* The animated description which Thomson gives 
of England in his beautiful poem of Liberty exhibits not 
only the eloquence of enthusiasm, but the strictness of 
historical truth* " Her 

2A 



186 

cottage, the substantial farm-house, the splen- 
did villa, are constantly rising to the sight, sur- 
rounded by the most choice and poetical attri- 
butes of the landscape. The painter is there 
but a mere copyist. A picture of as much neat- 
ness, softness, and elegance, is exposed to the 
eye, as can be given to the imagination, by the 

" Her hearty fruits, the hand of freedom own, 
" And warm with culture, her thick clustering fields 
"Prolific teem. Eternal verdure crowns 
" Her meads; her gardens smile eternal spring. 
" She rears to freedom an undaunted race, 
" Compatriot, zealous, hospitable, kind. 
" She, whitening o'er her downs, diffusive, pours 
u Unnumbered flocks: She weaves the fleecy robe 
u That wraps the nations: She, to lusty droves, 
iC The richest pasture spreads, and her's, deep wave 
" Autumnal seas of pleasing plenty round. 
u These her delights. 

" Enlivening these, add cities full 
u Of wealth, of trade, of cheerful toiling crowds; 
" Add thriving towns; add villages and farms, 
" Innumerous sowed along the lively vale, 
" Where bold unrivalled peasants happy dwell; 
' A Add ancient seats with venerable oaks 
" Embosom'd high, while kindred floods below 
" Wind through the mead; and those of modern hand 
u More pompous, add, that splendid shine afar, &c. 



187 

finest etching, or the most mellowed drawing. 
The vision is not more delightfully recreated 
by the rural scenery, than the moral sense is 
gratified, and the understanding elevated by 
the institutions of this great country. The first 
and continued exclamation of an American who 
contemplates them with an unbiassed judg- 
ment, is — 

Salve magna Parens, frugum saturnia tellus 
Magna virum. 

It appears something not less than impious 
to desire the ruin of this people, when you 
view the height to which they have carried 
the comforts, the knowledge, and the virtue of 
our species: the extent and number of their 
foundations of charity; their skill in the me- 
chanic arts, by the improvement of which alone, 
they have conferred inestimable benefits on 
mankind; the masculine morality, the lofty 
sense of independence, the sober and rational 
piety which are found in all classes; their im- 
partial, decorous and able administration of a 
code of laws, than which none more just and 



188 

perfect has ever been in operation: — their se- 
minaries of education yielding more solid and 
profitable instruction than any other whatever: 
their eminence in literature and science— -the 
urbanity and learning of their privileged or- 
ders, — their deliberative assemblies, illustra- 
ted by so many profound statesmen, and bril- 
liant orators. It is worse than ingratitude in us 
not to sympathize with them in their present 
struggle, when we recollect that it is from 
them we derive the principal merit of our own 
character — the best of our own institutions — ■ 
the sources of our highest enjoyments — and 
the light of freedom itself, which, if they 
should be destroyed, will not long shed its radi- 
ance over this country. 

The state of France, as it fell under my ob- 
servation in one thousand eight hundred and 
seven, exhibited quite another perspective. — 
Combined with the evils which I have already 
had occasion to notice, various other causes 
conspired to heighten the national calamity. — 
The extinction of all public spirit, and of the 



189 

influence of public opinion,- — the depopulation 
and decay of the great towns,- — the decline of 
• agriculture and manufactures, — the stagnation 
of internal trade, — the stern dominion of a mil- 
itary police, — incessantly checked the exulta- 
tion, natural to the mind, on viewing the pro- 
fusion of bounties, with which the hand of Pro- 
vidence has gifted this fine region. The pres- 
sure of the taxes was aggravated by the most 
oppressive rigours in the collection. The pea- 
sant or farmer who was delinquent in paying 
his taxes, had a file of soldiers, under the name 
of garnisers, quartered upon him, who consu- 
med the fruits of his industry, as a compensa* 
tion for the loss sustained by the state. The 
grape, in numberless instances, was permitted 
to rot on the vine, in consequence of the ina- 
bility of the proprietor either to dispose of his 
wine when made, or to discharge the imposts 
levied upon every stage of the process of ma- 
iling it. I was credibly informed that families 
were frequently compelled to relinquish their 
separate establishments, and to associate in 



190 

their domestic economy, in order to lighten, by 
dividing the burden of the taxes. 

The effects of the loss of external trade were 
every where visible: — in the commercial cities 
half deserted, and reduced to a state of inac- 
tion and gloom truly deplorable: — in the inland 
towns, in which the populace is eminently 
wretched, and where I saw not one indication 
of improvement, but on the contrary, num- 
bers of edifices falling to ruins: — on the high 
roads, where the infrequency of vehicles and 
travellers denoted but too strongly the decrease 
of internal consumption, and the languor of 
internal trade; and among the inhabitants of 
the country, — particularly of the south, — whose 
poverty is extreme, in consequence of the ex- 
orbitant taxes, and of the want of an outlet 
for their surplus produce. In one thousand 
eight hundred and seven the number of men- 
dicants in the inland towns was almost incredi- 
ble. The condition of the peasantry, as to their 
food, clothing and habitations, bore no com- 
parison with the state of the same class in En- 
gland. 



191 
The conscription, while it has chased war 
from the confines, has, nevertheless, carried 
the keenest pangs and many of the worst evils 
which war entails, into the bosom of every 
dwelling of the empire. It has vitiated the agri- 
cultural manners of France, the purity and vi- 
vacity of which were so much the delight of 
the traveller before the revolution. The feudal 
vassalage never exerted an influence half as per- 
nicious, over the spirit and satisfactions of the 
lower classes. The anarchy of the revolution 
relaxed the springs of industry, and, in de- 
stroying the influence, banished the consola- 
tions of religion. The present government has 
neither strengthened the one, nor restored the 
other; and by the example of an habitual viola- 
tion of all law, has extinguished every trace of 
respect for the civil authority. 

The abolition of the feudal tenures was a cir- 
cumstance highly favourable to the agriculture 
of France, and would have contributed materi- 
ally to its advancement, had not the genius of 
the present government counteracted its ten- 



192 
d,ency. The first spring of industry is the cer- 
tainty of enjoying its fruits. Capital is essential 
to the prosperity of agriculture in France: but 
the few capitalists who remain in the provincial 
cities and in the country, are too prudent to ex- 
pend their wealth in the cultivation of large 
estates, which may be at any moment, wrested 
from them, by a new revolution, or by the ra- 
pacity of their rulers. The great proprietors, as 
has been already mentioned, are few in number. 
They, together with the monied men reside 
chiefly in the metropolis, and are wholly inat- 
tentive to agricultural pursuits. Their fortunes 
flow from them through channels which convey 
but little aliment to the labours of the farmer. I 
scarcely remarked a single landholder of any 
consequence, engaged in tilling on a large and 
prospective plan, or even applying his surplus 
income to the embellishment of his grounds. 
From these and various other causes, agricul- 
ture languishes in almost every part of the em- 
pire. In one thousand eight hundred and seven, 
the fields were principally cultivated by wo- 
men:- — the long succession of wars having 



193 
swept away that male population, which, under 
the auspices of a pacific government, would 
now have been the instrument of an unequalled 
production of the best fruits of the earth.* Bo- 

* Peuchet, in speaking of the influence of the revolu- 
tion on the agriculture of France, enumerates, among the 
causes which have operated prejudicially, the diminution 
of the relative male f lobulation in several defiartments,owmg 
partly to the havoc made by the armies — (les ravages ex- 
ercesfiar les armees') " et la guerre, qui enleve continuelle- 
u ment des bras aux travaux et des chefs jeunes et actifs qui 
" sont le soutien et I'es/ioir des families" " C'est bienfilus," 
" he adds, " dans les fabriques, les comfitoirs, les sciences, 
" les arts qui exigent des etudes, que sefont sentir les suites 
" des levees militaires: suites morales qui troublent le bon- 
" heur des families, le refios de la societe, et les motifs de se 
" former un etat." (Statistique de la France, p. 279.) 
These sentiments, so hazardous for the writer, seem to 
be wrung from him by an overpowering sense of the 
public calamity. Although the military population of 
France is greatly diminished, it appears certain that the 
Numerical has been on the increase. This effect is traced by 
their statistical writers, to the early marriages occasion- 
ed by the military requisitions before the year ninety- 
eight — to the astonishingnumber of natural children, even 
now in the cities in the proportion of one-sixth of the le- 
gitimate births, — to the suppression of convents, — to the 
naval supremacy of the British, which prevents emigra- 
tion by sea and retains at home their maritime population 
• — to the extinction of the monkish orders, and to a 

2B 



194 

naparte pursues to the utmost possible extent, a 
policy recommended by all military experience; 
— that of drawing his supplies of men from the 
agricultural class.* The few of his victims 
who return, indolent in habits and dissolute in 
morals, are wholly disqualified for the plough, 
and only serve to spread the contagion of the 
vices which they contract in the camp. 

When the connexion between foreign trad,e 
and manufactures is considered, it may be easi- 
ly understood that those of France are in a 
much less flourishing state than before the revo- 
lution. Lyons, alone, of all the manufacturing 
cities displays some considerable activity — but 
even there, a great disparity is remarked be- 
tween her present and former condition. In the 
year one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
prodigious diminution in the number of male domes- 
tics. This seeming paradox is satisfactorily explain- 
ed by Malthus in the chapters which he has dedi- 
cated to an examination of" the checks to population in 
France," and " among the Romans." See Essay on Popu- 
lation, b. 1st. ch. 14, and b. 2d. ch. 6th. 

* See on this subject, Machiayelli, Art. de la Guerra- 
lib. cap. 6. 



195 

eight, the number of workmen employed in 
that city was fifty eight thousand five hundred, 
and the number of looms was estimated at four- 
teen thousand seven hundred and seventy se- 
ven. In one thousand eight hundred and one, 
there were but seven thousand looms and many 
of them were unemployed.* Since that period 
there has been an alternate rise and depression, 
but no material increase. The causes of the 
slow progress of the manufactures lie deep in 
the whole system of the imperial government, 
and cannot be removed until a settled foreign 
market is opened, — until the conveniences for 
inland trade are multiplied, and until domestic 
consumption is increased, by the encourage- 
ment of every branch of industry. The disease 
is not topical, but symptomatic — and not to 
be remedied by the mere distribution of premi- 
ums for the best specimens in the arts — or the 
creation of societies for their encouragement, f 

* Peuchet Statistique p. 418. 

f The government has established in Paris a biennial 
exhibition of specimens from all the manufactures of the 
empire. In one thousand eight hundred and six, the 
Champ, de Mars and one of the public edifices in the 



196 



I have noticed among intelligent persons 
both in this country and in England, a belief, 
that the burden of the taxes is more oppressive 
in the latter than France. The details which I 
have already given are sufficient to refute this 
error, — but it may not be improper to suggest 
a few additional remarks on this subject. In 
England the mass of national wealth is much 

neighbourhood, were allotted to the manufacturers, who 
were permitted to dispose of their specimens, after the 
public curiosity was gratified. Premiums were distributed 
according to the decision of a certain number of judges 
appointed to decide on the merit of their work. The dis- 
play was gorgeous, but by no means indicative of the 
prosperity of the manufactures. Several of the manufac- 
turers, whom I complimented on the beauty of their 
workmanship, replied that it was in fact but a proof of 
their misery, as it denoted the want of a more profitable 
occupation. They added that a state of peace by giving 
them constant employment, would have prevented them 
from bringing articles of mere luxury to the degree of 
perfection which I so much admired. I could not but re- 
mark at this exhibition the spirit of adulation which was 
visible on all sides. Likenesses of Bonaparte and of the 
Imperial family were to be found in almost every possi- 
ble material, even in Brussels lace! 

HfAte-a yct^ n von ccaret{.t.ii£iTcti tptpvozrx Zevs 

'A9$£M 85 «fV 5l5 XKTCt $8*<flV *?W#§ lXT,Tl, 



197 
greater than in France. The annual amount ojt 
the taxable means of the former beyond those 
of France may be estimated at sixty millions 
sterling. The public revenue is between sixty 
and seventy millions. A large portion of it is 
expended in the discharge of a national debt 
to native creditors, who pay back largely to the 
exchequer; and the whole is rapidly restored 
to domestic circulation. Even on the supposi- 
tion, that the amount of taxable income were 
equal in both countries, the difference of popu- 
lation, and the greater inequality of fortunes in 
England, would create a more considerable 
mass of superfluous wealth in the hands of indi- 
viduals — and might yet leave untouched an am- 
ple provision of necessaries with the people* 
The surplus of taxable means in England 
above those of France, may then be considered 
as superfluous wealth. But it is an admitted 
principle in experimental finance— that the li- 
mits of taxation on superfluities are almost in- 
definite. The amount which may be levied up- 
on them increases in a geometrical ratio with 
their mass. It is more easy for a nation to 



198 ' 

yield fifty millions from one hundred of super- 
fluous wealth than ten from fifty, &x. 

Sir Francis D'lvernois, observes — in his 
" Historical Survey"* where this topic is well 
explained, " that it is owing to the taxable 
" income of the English nation having trebled 
" within the last century, that under George 
" III., they are able to pay ten times as much 
" in taxes and yet have greater means of en- 
" joyment, — than in the time of William III. 
" who levied only one tenth of the present 
u amount of taxes, on an income equal to one 
" third of that of the present day." It may be 
easily seen from what I have stated, that the 
distribution of the taxable means of France 
among a numerous population, only serves 
to render the burden of the taxes more oppres- 
sive, as it leaves, on that account but a 
smaller fund of superfluous wealth. The equal 
division of property as I have before sugges- 
ted, aggravates this evil, — while it sensibly 

* P. 259. 



199 

affects the agriculture of the country, — the 
great source of the national wealth. Sir James 
Steuart* and Arthur Young both complain of 
the number of small proprietors as an impedi- 
ment to the progress of agriculture before the 
revolution. The increase of this class, who are 
unable to farm with a view to future or distant 
advantage, has materially diminished the sur- 
plus product of the soil, — and consequently 
the means of satisfying the demands of the 
treasury. 

The people of England have to congratulate 
themselves not only upon their ability to sus- 
tain their present burdens, but upon the am- 
ple resources which are open to them for futu- 
rity. A nation whose commercial prosperity 
is so high, may count upon a constant accu- 
mulation of capital, which will enable her to 
meet any extraordinary emergencies with ex- 
traordinary supplies. But in consequence of 
the admirable organization of her financial 

* Pr^itical Economv. vol. '. b- 1. ch. 14, 



200 

system, scarcely any emergency can occur, 
in the regular course of events, which will 
call for a considerable addition to her burdens. 
On this subject I refer to the plan of finance 
submitted to the house of commons by lord 
Henry Petty when chancellor of the exchequer, 
and which we have both read with so much 
satisfaction. This exposition of the actual 
and future means of England is calculated 
to infuse the fullest confidence into the nation, 
and does infinite credit to the great parlia- 
mentary and financial talents of that distin- 
guished nobleman. It unfolds a mass of re- 
sources, not depending upon precarious cir- 
cumstances, but the stable and permanent 
fruits of wisdom, order and industry, — which 
satisfactorily refutes the representations of 
those, who, either too indolent to examine, or 
too prejudiced to believe the extent of the 
wealth and energies of the British, — anticipate 
the ruin of England from the continued and 
aggravated pressure of taxation. 

The statement of lord Henry Petty proves 



201 

undeniably, — that as long as the British go- 
vernment continues to exercise even ordinary 
judgment and foresight, the means of continu- 
ing the war must superabound: — that until the 
year eighteen hundred and eleven, the con- 
test may be maintained without the imposition 
of new burdens: — for the ten years immediately 
following, by the imposition of such only as 
will be required to provide interests for small 
supplementary loans: — for the ten succeeding 
years, without the imposition of any new taxes 
whatever. According to the same statement, 
the fixed course adopted for the gradual re- 
demption of the public debt will be eminently 
successful. The sinking fund, — in an improv- 
ed state and guarded against any partial ope- 
ration, — must answer all the purposes of its 
creation. Every view of the future justifies 
the supposition of the orator, that this fund, 
which was in 1807, but 8,335,000/. sterling, 
will, — at the close of the first period of ten 
years mentioned above, amount to 22,720,000/. 
sterling. These calculations are founded upon 

the experience of the past, — upon the pre- 

2 C 



202 

sumption of means for the future, which the 
country has already furnished; — upon causes 
already ascertained to be sure and steady in 
their operation. I am well satisfied that the 
British government will be seconded in the 
application of these resources by the inflexible 
courage and patriotic spirit of the people. 
There is scarcely a person of intelligence in 
England who does not concur, at this mo- 
ment, in the opinion expressed in this plan, — 
" that chimerical notions may be formed, 
" and eager hopes entertained, — but no man 
" arguing upon rational principles can come to 
" any conclusion, as to the period at which 
" peace may be restored." These hopes and 
notions have now disappeared from the serious 
reasonings of those who were formerly most 
sanguine with regard to this event. They are 
convinced that they have to contend with a foe 
equally insatiable and implacable; — from whose 
very existence the lust of plunder, the vanity 
of conquest and the thirst of blood are al- 
together inseparable: — but they are also well 
assured, that their subjugation will never be 



203 

effected by the failure of their pecuniary re- 
sources or the decline of their courage. 

The interior of the French empire affords 
no promise of the possibility of collecting here- 
after a more abundant revenue, than that which 
is now wrung from the people. The pressure of 
their actual burdens obstructs the growth of 
future resources and nothing can be expect- 
ed from the spontaneous generosity, or mag- 
nanimous patriotism, of the subjects of a mili- 
tary despot. Gentz, who had attentively stu- 
died the financial system of the imperial govern- 
ment of France, speaks of it, in the year eighteen 
hundred and six, as " a machine wound up to 
" such a pitch as almost to make its springs 
" crack." I am well satisfied, from my own 
observation, of the accuracy of this opinion. 
The French people are absolutely saturated 
with taxes. Their means would be altogether 
inadequate to the entire support of the immense 
armies in the pay of the government. The pub- 
lic expenses are more than equal to the revenue 
which is drawn from the interior of the empire. 



204 

Foreign booty, therefore, as I have before sug- 
gested, is a necessary resource, in order to ena- 
ble the government to support the armies with 
which its own existence is indissolubly con- 
nected. This consideration opens an important 
view of the character of the imperial govern- 
ment, — and, at the same time, a most discou- 
raging prospect for the continent — when we 
consider the force of the principles upon which 
the French military system is established. No 
peace can be expected, until France herself 
can yield a revenue to the imperial exchequer, 
sufficient both for the maintenance of her 
armies, and the charges of her vast domestic 
establishment; or until whatever spoil yet re- 
mains on the continent, shall be either forcibly 
ravished or tamely surrendered. Her rulers 
must, of necessity, wrest from the nations 
abroad that food for the troops which cannot 
be found at home. They will march over the 
continent, — striking down, with a gigantic arm, 
whatever opposes itself to the gratification of 
their wants, — exhausting the resources of the 
present, and defeating the hopes of the future, 



205 

— trampling under foot the liberties, the in> 
stitutions, and the enjoyments, of every coun- 
try, through which they pass, or in which they 
may be stationed. The continent of Europe 
appears to me, to be threatened with calamities 
not less disastrous than those which accompa- 
nied the last agonies of the Roman power. It 
was the boast of the Hun Attila, that " no grass 
" ever grew" where his foot once trod. It is 
the passion of the ferocious conqueror of the 
present day, that no generous or independent 
feeling shall flourish within the baleful glare of 
his sceptre. The fruits of industry constitute his 
natural prey, as well as the riches of nature and 
the most venerable fabrics of human policy.— 

Metuenda colonis 
Fertilitas. Laribus pellit, detrudit avitis 
Finibus, aut aufert vivis aut occupat haeres. 
Con gestae cumulantur opes— orbisq: rapinas 
Accipit una domus, populi servire coacti, &c. 

Claudian in Ruf: c. 111. 

The French rulers, so far from encouraging 
that kind of industry which promotes the ease 



206 

and wealth of the lower classes, must regulate 
their administration by principles of a tendency 
directly opposite. Wealth will give power 
wherever it is lodged. To throw any share of 
power into the hands of the people is adverse 
to the fundamental policy of Bonaparte. A 
wealthy populace, grown strong by the pursuits 
of trade and industry, broke their chains two 
centuries ago, and demolished the feudal sys- 
tem. The swelling of the middle classes, from 
the same cause, beyond their proper size, as 
Mr. Burke has expressed it, contributed mate- 
rially to the subversion of the old government 
of France. Hereditary subordination, without 
an equality of rights, could not long endure, 
when the relative position of the different 
classes of the community was entirely changed. 
Arbitrary dependence among individuals, or 
absolute despotism in a government, is in- 
compatible with the regular accumulation of 
wealth, by industrious pursuits, in the hands 
of the lower orders. The sense of pecuniary in- 
dependence, produces energy of character and 
an impatience of servitude. A bold and jealous 



207 

people have it in their power, and rarely want 
the inclination, to break down the barriers of 
privilege, — and to shake oft' the yoke of an ar- 
bitrary sovereign. 

Bonaparte has not overlooked the lessons 
which the experience of the tw r o last centuries 
teaches on this subject. He is sensible, that the 
constitution of his government could not long 
subsist unless the lower classes were retained 
in a state of impoverishment. The imposition 
of taxes, to the utmost extent of their ability, 
is useful to work this effect, which the equal 
division of property contributes also to pro- 
mote. The more oppressive the weight and 
the more vexatious the collection of the 
taxes, — the greater will be the misery and 
the more servile the spirit of the people. His 
armies will be more easily recruited, and the 
vexations of a military despotism encounter less 
resistance, from an abject and necessitous po- 
pulation. France, enjoying so great a variety of 
climate, and such fertility of soil, may always, 
with a small degree of domestic industry, 



208 

furnish what will be sufficient for the splendour 
of the imperial court, and the expenses of inter- 
nal administration. Foreign contributions will 
maintain his armies and reward his generals 
and favourites, — who form the immediate vas- 
salage, and the strong ramparts of the crown. 
It is his policy, moreover, to create, at the 
expense of the lower classes, a monied interest 
near the throne, with whom he deposits, for the 
possible exigencies of the future, that fund of 
wealth, which, as I have before observed, he 
eannot, — by the encouragement of industry, — 
suffer to accumulate in the hands of the people, 
without forming a power dangerous — and a spi- 
rit repugnant-— to the genius of his system. 

If it be the object of the present ruler of France 
to establish a permanent despotism at home 
and an universal empire abroad, he will aim at 
the most absolute simplicity in his institutions. 
All must converge to one point; — the crea- 
tion of a military spirit and military means. If 
he permitted the state to thrive by the conse- 
quences of industry — his domestic power 



2,09 
would he endangered,— or its character un- 
dergo a radical change. He would render the 
mechanism of his administration so complex 
as to divide his strength and attention, and 
thus to frustrate his scheme of foreign con- 
quest. The view which I have taken of the 
situation of the French republic at the com- 
mencement of the revolution, may serve to 
render the ideas I now suggest, the more intel- 
ligible. The simple forms of polity, such as 
the Lacedemonian and Roman, which, — by 
proscribing all branches of industry, — created 
the desire as well as the necessity of incessant 
war, — are by far the most firm and lasting. 
The same character of permanence has distin- 
guished the oriental despotisms of the present 
day, which tolerate no such industrious pur- 
suits as might enrich the mass of the people. 

These considerations are urged principally 
with a view to elucidate a topic of the highest 
importance to this country. — / mean the deter- 
mined hostility of Bonaparte to commerce under 

any shape. He is both from policy and temper, 

2D 



210 

jiii enemy to the whole modern system of pub- 
lic economy, of which trade is the leading fea- 
ture. This inference — to which his character 
as a conqueror and a military despot naturally 
leads, — is confirmed by the scope of all his 
actions, and the tenor of all his discourses. 
Trade is the nutriment of every branch of 
industry, the consequences of which, as I 
have stated above, are so opposite to the 
genius and views of the French government. 
To the influence of commerce we owe that 
mild revolution, which banished the fierceness, 
the turbulence, the darkness and the " iron 
slavery" of the feudal times, and substi- 
tuted the social virtues — the lights of science — 
the liberal feelings and the gentle subordination 
of freedom.* The modern aspect of the con- 
tinent upon which the philosophic eye was 
accustomed to dwell with so much delight, 

* See on this subject Mr. Burke's first letter on the Re- 
gicide Peace. — Gibbon, Dec : and Fall, concluding chapter 
of 6th vol: — and particularly the admirable dissertation 
which Dr. Robertson has prefixed to his History of 
Charles V. 



211 

must be sensibly altered, before it can remain 
quiescent under the yoke of a single power. 
In France, particularly, the minds of men 
must be moulded to other habits and enjoy- 
ments, and turned to other objects of admira- 
tion and desire, than those which are insepa- 
rable from the pursuits of trade, — before they 
can be properly qualified to retain the vast 
dominion which they are now fighting to ac- 
quire. 

It is but natural that a being, who delights 
in war and rapine, — whose sole passion is mili- 
tary fame, — and who recognises no other 
system of government than an austere and 
jealous tyranny,* — should hate the commer- 
cial character. The pursuits of commerce lead 
to the cultivation of the arts of peace, and to 
habits of liberal and useful research. They 
tend to soften and refine the manners, and to 

* See his celebrated letter to the Prince of Asturias 
— ^wherein he declares that the people of every country 
must hate their government, and can only be retained in 
their allegiance by the influence of, fear. . 



212 

promote the virtues of humanity. They en- 
large the understanding, and fortify the moral 
qualities. They generate a spirit of tolerance, 
and form a solid character of clear, sagacious 
sense, destructive to the frivolity and to the 
prejudices, without which despotism cannot 
exist. All these effects— which are more or 
less visible in the history of every commercial 
nation, — militate directly against the personal 
character, the domestic power and the foreign 
policy of Bonaparte. The pursuits of trade 
entail another consequence still more offensive. 
They invariably produce a spirit of indepen- 
dence, and a warm attachment to civil liberty. 
The habits of activity to which they lead, — the 
latitude of converse with mankind, the oppor- 
tunities of comparison and the means of 
enjoyment which they afford, — quicken the 
perception of injustice and strengthen the love 
of freedom coeval with the mind. I have had 
occasion to observe among the body of mer- 
chants every where — particularly in England 
and in this country, — a jealousy with regard 
to natural rights, — an hatred for oppres- 



213 

$ion — a love of order, — and a sound and tern- 
perate judgment on questions of government, 
— more remarkable, I think, than in any other 
description of men collectively taken. It may 
be asserted that no government purely arbitra- 
ry can ever be established or long endure, 
in a country where commerce is tolerated, or 
protected upon a large and liberal plan. 

The British are detested by Bonaparte, not 
merely as political enemies, but as a commer- 
cial people. Under the pretence of contending 
for the liberty of the seas — he aims his blows 
at the spirit of commerce and at the admira- 
ble constitution which it strengthens and de- 
fends. In waging war against the commerce 
of England it is not merely her destruction 
that he meditates. He is almost as forcibly im- 
pelled by his desire to extinguish the whole 
trading economy of the world, which, without 
England, — the spring and soul of the system, 
— must soon disappear.* In sealing up so 

* See Gentz — State of Europe, p. 342, 343, Sec. for the 
character and utility of England as the principal mem,- 



214 

industriously the ports of the continent, he has 
it in view not merely to diminish the profits of 

ber of the commercial world. — His observations relative 
to her manufactures, may be read with profit by an 
American politician. Some of them deserve to be 
quoted: " It is every man's interest, which no one will 
" mistake (if left to himself) to purchase articles of mer- 
" chandise at a lower price in another country, rather 
* than pay dearer for the same productions at home; 
" and the advantage is immense when he can procure 
u them at once better and cheaper from a foreigner than 
" from his own countrymen. The gains of all the indi- 
u viduals constitute the advantage of the whole commu- 
" nicy. The true interest of a nation is always to supply 
" its several wants by the smallest possible expense of 
" labour and capital. The greater its economy in these 
" respects, the more wants will it be able to satisfy, and 
" the greater will be the surplus to be applied in aug- 
" mentation of its positive wealth, and towards the further- 
" ance of its productive powers. When the foreign com- 
" merce of a nation is governed by these principles (and 
" they are its only groundwork in the natural course of 
" things), it is always beneficial and productive. The in- 
" terest of particular classes may sometimes be at variance 
" with them; but the advantage of the whole (even of the 
" individuals of those very classes, when considered as a 
" part of the general mass) is inseparably connected with 
;t them. Manufacturers and tradesmen, and statesmen who 



215 

British trade, but to prevent the revival of that 
spirit which springs from commercial inter- 
course, and the introduction, — through pam- 
phlets and newspapers — of feelings and princi- 
ples, — the currency of which would obstruct 
the execution of his plans. There would be 
more danger to the extension and perpetuity 
of his power from the moral and physical 
energies which an active commerce might pro- 
duce, — than from the fiercest resentment to 

" listen to them, may continue to imagine that a nation is 
" impoverished by receiving the manufactures of another; 
" but unprejudiced sense will suspect (and a true know- 
" ledge of the sources of general wealth will confirm it) 
" that every branch of trade, be it where it will, if produ- 
" ced by an actual improvement of human industry, is 
" beneficial to every nation concerned, — as well to the 
" purchasers as to the sellers. Manufacturers and trades- 
" men, and statesmen influenced by them, first raised the 
a present clamour about the dependence of Europe and 
" the ascendant of British industry; the political enemies 
" of England eagerly took advantage of a clamour so wel- 
" come to them; what the former had only termed depen- 
" dence, the latter inveighed against as an intolerable 
" yoke; what those only deplored as a lamentable error, 
« these writers described as the last degree of weakness 
" and abasement, Sec." 



216 

which the continent can be roused against him 
by the miseries incident to the privation of 
trade. 

In all the official acts of the French govern- 
ment on the subject of commerce, there is much 
parade about the interest which it excites in 
the mind of the imperial ruler. The assurances 
of his unremitting solicitude are loud and so- 
lemn, just in the degree that they are insincere 
and unproductive. In order to wear the sem- 
blance of sincerity, he has caused a commercial 
code to be framed, which embraces the usual 
topicsof commercial legislation. The provisions 
of this code descend to the most minute details, 
and are in many parts highly objectionable. 
They are, however, chiefly drawn from the or- 
donnance of one thousand six hundred and 
sixty- eight, and have the merit of a better me- 
thod, and greater perspicuity. The preliminary 
discourses of the orators of the government 
are somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as they 
betray the same pruriency of dominion, which 
shows itself in all their proceedings, and give 



217 

some ominous hints to those, who rely upon 
the agency of the French government in vindi- 
cating the liberty of the seas. The commer- 
cial code is announced as destined " to enjoy 
" an universal influence, and to become the 
* maritime law of Europe." It is to be confer- 
red, together with the "whole Napoleon code, as 
a benefit on the allies and neighbours of 
France, — and to be the " common jurispru- 
" dence of all the nations, whose interest at- 
" taches them to the French system of federa- 
" tion and alliance."* This annunciation of the 
generous intentions of the Emperor, is accom- 
panied by bitter invectives against the tyrants of 

* " II est enfin (Tune haute importance que le code de 
<l commerce de l'Empire Francois soit redige dans des 
a principes qui lui preparent une influence universelle." 
a — Le travail d'une loi nouvelle destinee a donner le code 
u commercial a I'Eurofie." "Le monde,l 3 Emfiire jFra?igois 
« du moins — devra au genie vengeur du droit des gens, 
« le bienfait d'un acte de navigation, que des ministres 
" san pudeur ne feront plus dechirer par un peuple de 
" pirates. La France aura un code, qu'elle pourra, comme 
" le Code Napoleon, donner comme un bienfait a ses 
u voisins, a ses allies, Sec. Le Code que vous aurez adop* 
" te deviendra le droit commun de l'Europe, fee." 

2E 



218 

the ocean, who are stigmatized as a nation of 
pirates, instigated by a shameless ministry, to 
usurp the right of legislating for the world f 

The people of France cannot, however, mis- 
take the real dispositions of their government 
with regard to commerce. The miserable rem- 
nant which survived in one thousand eight hun- 
dred and seven, was daily loaded with new im- 
posts and restrictions, which deranged the cal- 
culations, and consumed the profits of the mer- 
chant. The latter was not deluded by the pro- 
mise that commerce was to be free and favour- 
ed, when peace should be restored. He was 
rendered but too sensible of the temper of his 
rulers by the contempt in which they openly 
held his profession. Every remonstrance or so- 
licitation made to the government, by the indi- 
vidual or his class, was repelled with a degree 
of contumely, which was a sufficient indication- 
of the feelings which trade in general excited. 
Notwithstanding the tenor of the official decla- 
rations of the government, the imperial ruler 
has been unable, in several instances, to refrain 



219 

from expressing the hatred and contempt which 
he feels for trade. He told a deputation of mer- 
chants at Hamburgh that he detested com- 
merce and all its concerns. He has held the 
same language to his own subjects on various 
occasions. I know not how it is possible to 
misconceive either his natural antipathies, or 
his systematic policy on this head. We have 
seen him laboriously engaged for the last two 
years, in excluding commerce from his own 
ports, and sealing up hermetically every other 
within the reach of his influence. When he at- 
tempted by a mode apparently so ridiculous as 
the Berlin decree, to excommunicate the Bri- 
tish from the pale of nations, the impoverish- 
ment of their trade, was not, I am well convin- 
ced, his chief object. The decree was enacted 
with a view to induce measures of retaliation 
on the part of Great Britain, and thus to pro- 
vide the physical means which he wanted for 
destroying the commerce of the continent. 



220 



During a residence of ten months in Paris, 
I was naturally prompted to investigate with 
particular diligence, the dispositions of the 
French government towards our own country. 
I was much in the society, and enjoyed the con- 
fidence of persons, whose contiguity to the 
throne, and whose political stations and con- 
nexions, opened to them all the avenues of cor- 
rect information. Situated as they are, a dis r 
closure of the private facts and motives upon 
which their opinions were grounded, would be 
an undertaking of great delicacy, and might 
be productive of some hazard to meritorious 
individuals. I shall, however, say as much on 
this important topic as prudence will allow, 
and as my own personal observation enables 
me to state. Whoever has resided in the French 
metropolis, and studied the character of the 
French rulers for any length of time, must 
know that their antipathies and views are not 
to be collected from their official communica- 
tions, until their plans are ripe for execution. 
The unpremeditated or cursory language of in- 



221 

dividuals in office, the tenor of private dis 
courses from persons of authority, and the 
composition and general policy of the govern- 
ment when attentively considered, are the surest 
criterions for the judgment. 

Since the commencement of the revolution, 
the dispositions of the French government have 
been at no time favourable to this country. We 
can all recollect the conduct of the Directory — * 
and should also remember that many of the 
men who then swayed the American politics of 
France, now form a part of her national coun- 
cils. Nothing, certainly, has since occurred to 
allay the enmity and contempt which were then 
so openly displayed. On the contrary, circum- 
stances have intervened, of a tendency directly 
the reverse. The chief of these are— 1st, The 
increased animosity of the French rulers against 
the British, with whom we are, in this respect^ 
constantly identified, notwithstanding our ef- 
forts to convince the world that neither our 
mental affinities nor our elective affections war- 



222 

tdnt the association. 2d, The irritation exci- 
ted in the mind of the Emperor of France by 
the resistance of the people of this country, to 
his plan of leaguing them with himself in his 
war against England. The importance of this 
object must be apparent. The disappoint- 
ment, therefore, was particularly calculated 
to inflame his anger. Nothing, — I am well 
convinced, — but the hope that this end might 
be finally accomplished, either by the fears of 
our cabinet — or the infatuation of the British 
ministry, — has restrained him from coming 
to an open rupture with us. — The forma- 
tion of an imperial government in France 
was but ill fitted to conciliate benevolence 
towards a country enjoying popular institu- 
tions. The imperial despot proclaims and mani- 
fests, on all occasions, his contempt and de~ 
testation for republics. He has assailed and 
beaten them down wherever they came within 
the range of his power; not incidentally, but 
directly, and with all the zeal of fanaticism. 
His aversion is not that which may naturally 



223 

arise out of opposite forms of government, but 
it is a malignant hatred to the spirit of liberty: 
— an abhorrence of the example of a free go- 
vernment: — a sort of missionary fury, which 
would banish the adverse creed — not only 
from the immediate theatre of his own dogmas, 
but from the face of the earth. After having, 
in Europe, contracted the reign of indepen- 
dence to the narrow span of England — he can- 
not bear to see it diffused over this hemisphere. 
There should be, in governments, a political, 
as there is, in animals, — a natural instinct to 
know an 'enemy: — a political, as well as natu- 
ral self-love, to sharpen our discernment, and 
to deter us from drawing close to a power 
which sheds an influence as fatal to republics, 
as that of the Upas tree to animal life. We 
should intuitively shun the one with as much 
care as the traveller avoids the other. We can- 
not mistake this man for our friend, and as wc 
consider our popular institutions as the first of 
blessings, we should deprecate his alliance as 
the most formidable of evils. For us, as well as 



224 

for every other country, either opulent or free. 
the danger is the same. 

Terrarum fatale malum, fulmenq: quod omnes 
Percuteret pariter populos, et sidus iniquum 
Gentibus.* 



The inferences which I drew from the above 
general considerations, were early confirmed in 
my mind, during my residence in Paris, by the 
most positive testimony. I heard, from every 
man both in and out of office, who had any inti- 
mate connexion with the government, the same 
language of contempt and menace on' the sub- 
ject of the United States. The peculiar phraseo- 
logy was — " that we were a nation of fraudu- 
" lent shopkeepers, — British in prejudices and 
" predilections, and equally objects of aversion 
; to the Emperor, who had taken a fixed deter- 
u mination to bring m to reason in due time." 
It was universally understood, that our slug- 
gishness in acceding to all his wishes; — the 
bold strictures, in which we sometimes in- 

* Lucan, lib: ix 



. 225 

ciulge, concerning his character and conduct— 
and the nature of our institutions; — were in- 
expiable offences, — and to be finally retributed 
by the full weight of his resentment. The Bri- 
tish he hates, — and dreads, — and respects. The 
people of this country he detests and despises. 
He detests us as the progeny of the British — ■ 
and as the citizens of a free government. He 
despises us as a body of traders, — according to 
his view, — without national fame or national 
character; — without military strength or mili- 
tary virtues. 

If we had thrown ourselves into his arms, he 
might have respected us -more for some deci- 
sion of character, — but he would not have hated 
us less. Our labours to steer a middle course, 
—to moderate his violence by humble remon- 
strances and benevolent professions, — to entice 
from him the alms of an oppressed and preca- 
rious refuse of trade, — have only conduced to 
heighten his disdain and to embolden his inso- 
lence. We have squandered, — and do squan- 
der, unavailingly, — our fund of submission. 

2 F 



226 

Every act of humiliation is not merely super- 
fluous — but absolutely prejudicial. There is no 
extravagance of disgrace, which could render 
him placable. A war with England might soften 
his tone for some time, but, as we have seen 
exemplified in the case of Austria and Prus- 
sia, — and shall soon see proved in that of Rus- 
sia, — it would not produce an oblivion of past 
disgusts, — nor contract his immeasurable am- 
bition, — nor extirpate his deeply rooted hosti- 
lity to trade and to popular institutions. When 
an attempt was to be made, to plunge us into 
the same abyss of ruin, which we had been 
assisting him to prepare for others, we 
should, as in the instance of Prussia, be scorn- 
fully reproached and relentlessly punished 
for our original neutrality — for the symptoms 
of discontent or indignation, which we might 
have shown under the yoke of his own galling 
amity — for our very treachery to the cause we 
had abandoned in his favour, and which, as we 
should be told, our base fears alone prompted 
us to betray. 



227 
Such is the view which was taken of the pri- 
vate feelings of Bonaparte by persons whose 
opinions on the subject, bore the highest au- 
thority. My own observation led me to the 
same conclusions. We must not suppose that 
we are overlooked or forgotten in the midst of 
the storm of tumultuous passions and the vast 
interests in which he is engaged. We are fol- 
lowed with an acute and malignant eye through 
all our manifestations of feeling and the wind- 
ings of our cautious policy. — I have occasion to 
know that our gazettes are diligently searched 
at the instigation of the Emperor himself, and 
such parts as relate to his character and views, 
extracted and submitted to his inspection. The 
invectives, with which many of them abound, 
are read with the bitterest resentment, and uni- 
formly with denunciations of vengeance. They 
are interpreted by him as the expression of the 
national sentiment, and are so represented by 
the French emissaries who have been, and those 
who still are among us. 



•228 

Some of our politicians derive consolation 
from the belief that his principal minister, who 
resided for some time in this country, will ex- 
ert his influence to soften the prejudices of his 
master, — particularly on the subject of trade. 
Should the minister be actually so dispos- 
ed, there is but little probability of the 
success of his endeavours. General Arm- 
strong, however, has said enough to show 
the futility of this hope, when he states. 
in his correspondence, that Talleyrand was 
well inclined to the revival of trade; but 
that the Emperor would listen to no such 
proposition. The fact, indeed, is, that Talley- 
rand is not more amicably disposed than his 
master* and if it were in his power, would ex- 

* Talleyrand, in his memoir on our commercial rela- 
tions with England, holds the following language on the 
subject of commerce. " The spirit of commerce which 
" renders man tolerant from indifference, renders him 
" also selfish from avidity. A people particularly whose 
11 morals have been impaired by long commotions, should 
" be drawn by wise institutions towards agriculture: 
<< for commerce keeps the passions of mom in a state of 
" effervescence and agriculture calms them." There is 
another opinion expressed by this writer in his work which 
he must find it somewhat difficult to reconcile with the 



229 

ercise no influence favourable to this country. 
It is, moreover, a matter of notoriety in the best 
informed circles of Paris, that this minister en- 
joys no such ascendant over the mind of Bona 
parte as is generally supposed both here and in 
England. The latter projects and dictates his 
own measures. He governs in the cabinet as he 
rules in the camp. The conception and outlines 
of his great undertakings originate with himself. 
The subordinate or instrumental parts are al- 
lotted to his assistants. There is no minister in 
his train who canever persuade him, that the ad- 
vancement of commerce will contribute to the 
security of his despotism at home, or to the pro- 
longation of his empire over the continent. 
The question of trade must be of less than pa- 
doctrines which he must now officially maintain. " The 
" necessary tendency of a free constitution is to establish 
" order both within and without for the interest of the hu- 
" man race. The necessary and unremitting tendency of 
" an arbitrary government is so to regulate every thing 
" internal and external as to promote the personal interest 
" of those who govern. From this opposition of character 
" it is undeniable, that they cannot for any length of time 
« employ the same means, since they differ so widely in 
" their object." 



230 

rochial insignificance when compared with his 
views of aggrandizement, and is only seriously 
considered — inasmuch as it is opposed to the 
nature of the dominion which he wishes to es- 
tablish. Talleyrand, however subtle and pro- 
found, is of a timorous character, and if his 
mind could not embrace the whole compass, or 
recognise the remote efficacy of the plans of his 
principal — or were not stimulated by a propor- 
tionable desire of power, he would, neverthe- 
less, submit, without a murmur, to the lofty ge- 
nius, or to the inveterate prejudices which he 
feels himself unable to control. He knows 
there are few enmities in the mind of the Em- 
peror stronger than those which the latter che- 
rishes against the character and neutrality of the 
United States.* 

* In an imperial audience which took place at Paris in 
October 1807, somewhat similar to the celebrated one 
with Lord Whitworth, Bonaparte after declaring in 
an impassioned tone to the Austrian minister that he had 
sworn the destruction of England and would accomplish 
it, declared with the same emphasis to the Portuguese am- 
bassador, that thenceforward he would trample under 
foot all the principles of neutrality. 



231 

The modes by which we are to be assailed are 
various, and involve dangers of the first magni- 
tude. Louisiana is the corner stone of the hostile 
policy of France. The proneness of a French po- 
pulation to French dominion, is counted upon as # 
a sure guarantee of the success of the attempts 
which will be made to sever that territory from 
the United States. The information which I ob- 
tained at Paris, fully convinced me of the bad 
faith of the French government in making this 
cession, and of its intention to resume posses- 
sion by force when an opportunity shall offer. 
Since the period of the purchase, emissaries 
have gone at different times from this country 
to France, in order to represent to the French 
government, the advantages it would derive 
from regaining and holding Louisiana as a co- 
lony. Memorials to the same effect have also 
been presented within the same interval, by 
persons now domicilated in Paris, but who 
formerly resided in that territory. These me- 
morials were graciously received and are re- 
served for a favourable conjuncture. I had this 



232 
fact from two of the writers, who laid much stress 
on the dispositions of the inhabitants, and on 
the facility with which those dispositions might 
by secret agency, be ripened into incurable dis- 
affection to their new rulers. They contended, 
and with some degree of plausibility, that the 
qualities and feelings peculiar to the members 
of a British commonwealth, could never be har- 
moniously blended with those which belong to 
persons of French and Spanish origin, — habi- 
tuated solely to the forms of French and Spa- 
nish dominion. 

The Floridas would have been long since 
yielded to the liberal offers, and to the earnest 
intrcaties of our cabinet, if they were not neces- 
sary to the ulterior views of the French ruler 
on Louisiana. It certainly never was his inten- 
tion to relinquish them, although he conde- 
scended to amuse the American cabinet with a 
long protracted negotiation on this point. The 
politicians of Paris predicted without hesita- 
tion, when this question was first agitated there, 
that the offers of this country never would be 



233 
accepted. They reasoned upon the supposition 
that their Emperor felt too sensibly the impor- 
tance of retaining a post in the neighbourhood 
of Louisiana, which might facilitate either the 
forcible occupation of that territory, or the to- 
tal estrangement of the inhabitants from their 
present allegiance, by the arts of intrigue and 
corruption. You will observe that I speak of 
Louisiana as the property of France, although 
}t ostensibly belonged to Spain. I must remark, 
moreover, that an American minister treating 
ibr a possession of Spain with the French go- 
vernment at Paris, exhibited rather a curious 
spectacle. There was an itinerant diplomacy in 
this business — first to Madrid and thence to the 
French metropolis at the command of Bona- 
parte. If the American cabinet were disposed 
at this moment to purchase the island of Cuba 
from the patriots, they would find it rather ex- 
traordinary, and perhaps somewhat insulting, — > 
if the British government were to exact that the 
negotiation should be conducted with the office 
of foreign affairs in London, and were to arro- 
gate to itself the right of rejecting the applica- 

2G 



234 

tion. The negotiation at Paris for the Floridas 
was, throughout, a series of humiliation for the 
United States; and if the true history of it could 
be disclosed, would afford a clear insight into 
the views of France. I need not dwell upon the 
evils to which this country would be exposed 
from the establishment of a French power on 
our borders. 

While the British havy remains entire, we 
have not much to apprehend from the bayonet 
of the French rulers. But there is another spe- 
cies of hostility, preliminary to open violence 
and scarcely less efficacious in the end — which 
they are now indefatigably waging against this 
country. They are, in fact, at war with us to the 
utmost extent of their means of annoyance. 
What the sword fails to reach may be almost as 
destructively assailed by the subtle poison of 
corrupt doctrines, — by domestic intrigue, — by 
the diffusion of falsehood, and by the arts of 
intimidation. The world has not more to dread 
from their comprehensive scheme of military 
usurpation, than from the coextensive system of 



235 

seduction and espionage which they prosecute 
with a view either to supersede the necessity, 
or to insure the success of conquest by arms. 
Upon the model of their domestic policy in this 
respect, they have established a secret inquisi- 
tion into the manageable vices and prejudices, 
into the vulnerable points as well as the strong 
holds of every country obnoxious to their am- 
bition. As they station a spy in every dwelling 
of the French empire — they plant traitors every 
where abroad, to corrupt by bribes; — to delude 
by promises, — to overawe by menaces, — to in- 
flame the passions and to exasperate the leading 
antipathies of every people. As they maintain 
by their domestic police an intestine war in 
France herself — by their foreign missions they 
sow every where abroad the seeds of division 
and discontent; — they foment the animosities of 
faction, and prepare the train for that explo- 
sion, which, by disuniting and dissipating the 
single as well as federative strength if a nation, 
lays her completely at their mercy. They shake 
the minds of men by terror; — and if the influ- 
ence of the imagination, either panic struck, or 



236 

seduced, should be aided by a credulous tem- 
per and a correspondent bias of prejudice, they 
make sure of their victims. 

In their own dominions, the " grim Moloch" 
of the police renders every moment of life a 
succession of slavery.* The private actions, al- 

* The writer of the article " Espionage" in the " En- 
cyclopedic Methodique," gives the subsequent re- 
volting picture, derived from his own experience. — 
%( Scarcely," says he, " had the revolution broken out at 
" Paris, when the espionage of the police was thought to 
" be at an end. I found myself stationed as a chief clerk 
" in one of the offices of this department. I thought that 
" a people who had just shaken offthe yoke of despotism, 
" would not solicit the reestablishment of_a political ii> 
" quisition, and that they would regard the system of 
" espionage and of arbitrary imprisonment as evils of the 
" first magnitude. But what was my surprise, when I 
" saw men, who had been most clamorous in their op- 
" position to despotism, come to solicit the employ- 
u ment of spies;-— .when I found a stupid public 
" calling upon me to seize the person or to disco- 
" ver the residence of this and the other individual 
« —when parents were seen coming to require the 
" imprisonment of their children, — when I found it 
" impossible to make them understand that this illegal 
" mode of proceeding was contrary to all reason and 
" dangerous to liberty and to morals? Liberty appeared 
" of little value, when .compared with a pecuniary inte- 



237 

most the recondite thoughts of every indivi- 
dual: — the domestic errors and weaknesses and 
disquietudes,— the confidential endearments and 
communications of every family, are exposed to 
the malignant curiosity of the vilest of merce- 
naries, and to the sinister interpretation of the 
most suspicious and unfeeling of all tribunals. 
By means equally profligate they exercise a su- 
pervision over other countries, and improve to 
their advantage whatever principles of corrup- 
tion and disunion may be interwoven with their 
social or political constitutions, Their agents 
never loiter in the discharge of their functions 
or sleep on their watch. No means or instru- 
ments, however contemptible in appearance, are 
neglected in the prosecution of their plans. It is 
notorious that even the foreigners employed in 
the theatres and opera houses of Europe to mi- 
nister to the public amusement, are marshalled 
in the service of the French government, for the 
purpose either of collecting information them- 

" rest or the gratification of private revenge. Such is 
" the actual state of things, and both the public and the 
<, ; government appear to be favourably disposed towards 
" espionage of every description." (Encyclopedic, Juris- 
prud. Tom. x.) 



238 

selves, or of facilitating the labours of more in- 
telligent agents. The gazettes of every part of 
the continent are debauched by largesses, or dri- 
ven by force to war against humanity by pro- 
pagating the misrepresentations of this horrible 
despotism.* 

This foreign police was projected under the 
old regime. During the reign of Japobinism 
the number of its agents was multiplied and its 
activity greatly increased. Those means which 
under the Bourbons, were employed to guard 
France against the plots of her rivals, and by 
the Jacobins to subvert all governments, are 
now under the military despotism of Bona- 
parte, levelled, upon an enlarged plan and with 
more active industry, — -against the liberties and 

* During the peace of 1802, an attempt was made to 
enlist the principal Gazettes of England in the same 
cause. A person of the name of Fievee, who has since of- 
ficiated as editor of the Journal de l'Empire, was deputed 
to that country on what he himself boastingly styled un 
voyage de corruption. He returned however, without 
having succeeded in his mission,. and vented his own 
spleen as well as that of his government, in a libellous 
book on the British nation. 



239 

morals of eveiy people. That we ourselves are 
vigorously assailed, no reflecting man, as it ap- 
pears to me, can for a moment doubt. Inaces- 
sible as we are at this moment to any other 
mode of aggression, this engine of subjection 
is urged against us with redoubled force and 
adroitness. In this way we are perhaps more 
vulnerable than any other people. There is 
none whose public councils may be more easi- 
ly converted into mischievous cabals, or whose 
party feuds may be more quickly inflamed into 
the worst disorders of faction. The simplicity 
and purity of character by which we are, I 
think, when viewed in the aggregate, so ad- 
vantageously distinguished above the nations 
of Europe, is almost as favourable to the de- 
signs of France as the corruption or venality of 
her neighbours. A backwardness to suspect 
treachery may entail all the consequences of a 
willingness to abet it. 

One who has had an opportunity of observ- 
ing the workings of French influence else- 
where, cannot possibly mistake the source 



940 

from which the politics of some of our own ga* 
zettes are drawn. The most unwearied indus- 
try in disseminating falsehoods on the subject 
of Great Britain — a watchful alacrity to make 
even her most innocent or laudable acts, the 
subject of clamour; — a steady laborious vindica- 
tion of all the measures of France, and a system 
of denunciation against those who pursue an 
opposite course, are the distinguishing features 
of the venal presses of Europe, and the symp- 
toms by which those of our own country may 
be known. The distance at which we are placed 
from the immediate range of the power of 
France, opens to her emissaries here, a wide 
field for invention and exaggeration. What is 
by them wickedly fabricated, is innocently be- 
lieved and propagated by the multitude of well 
meaning persons, whose antipathies against En- 
gland blind them, both to the atrocious charac- 
ter and to the hostile designs of our real and 
most formidable enemy. Independently of other 
considerations connected with our general wel- 
fare, I sincerely deprecate the influence which 
the habit of approving the measures of France, 



241 

may have over the moral and political character 
of this country. " Opinions," says Mr. Burke, 
" as they sometimes follow, so they frequently 
" guide and direct the affections." We cannot 
long love the principles to which we profess to 
be devoted, while we accustom ourselves to re- 
joice at the triumph of such as are fundamen- 
tally opposite. The habit of contemplating with 
satisfaction the victorious career of inordinate 
ambition and unexampled tyranny, must de- 
prave the mind, and whatever may be our 
professions, cannot fail to weaken our at- 
tachment not only to the cause of virtue, but to 
the constitutions of freedom. 

I have thus, my dear sir, gone through the 
topics which I had undertaken to discuss, 
Some of them merit a much more ample inves- 
tigation, and could have been supported by 
facts of a still more convincing nature. The 
publication of these facts, however, would have 
been an unwarrantable breach of confidence,— 
and I have wantejl leisure to arrange all the 

arguments which might have been adduced to 

2H 



242 

support my conclusions. Enough, I think, 
has been said to produce the conviction that 
the French Emperor meditates the ruin of this 
country, and is not to be propitiated by any 
concessions. It is upon this conviction that I 
rely as an antidote to whatever rash inferences 
might be drawn from the persuasion that he 
must finally triumph over the continent. There 
are, moreover, other considerations tending to 
counteract such inferences, upon which I shall 
touch slightly before I conclude — and which 
it is my intention to investigate more fully 
hereafter. The first arises from the position, 
that the French rulers are characteristically and 
systematically enemies to commerce in any 
form. They are now preparing the opportunity 
which they will hereafter improve — to extin- 
guish the spirit of trade wherever their domin- 
ion can be established. When they are finally 
victorious oyer the continent, we shall be the 
more rigidly excluded and virulently persecu- 
ted, in order to gratify their implacable hatred 
against a commercial andgrepublican people. 
If we had seen the French rlmperor concilia- 



243 
ted in any one instance by the final submission 
of a nation which had once resisted his will, 
we might, with some degree of reason, look for 
a refuge in his mercy, although no people, 
with the exception of the British, are so much 
the objects of his aversion, and none whatever 
has so strongly excited his contempt. But 
there is nothing rational or even plausible in 
this mere reversionary hope, — when we con- 
template the examples which stare us in the 
face, — of nations mercilessly beaten to the 
ground, and rapaciously plundered, — which 
had acquired — by every sacrifice of honour and 
strength, — the fairest titles to his generosity 
and his compassion. 

The maritime means of England lead also 
to some serious reflections connected with the 
interests of this country. Whatever maybe the 
fate of the continent, the British cannot fall. 
The character of the population of England, — 
the abundance of her pecuniary resources — 
and eminently her navy, — the great buttress of 
her strength— preclude almost the possibility 



244 

of her overthrow. The danger of invasion if 
not altogether illusory, is extremely doubtful 
and remote* If the continent is to be over- 
come, it is better that the delusion of hope 
should be at once dispelled from the minds of 
the British.* They will then reserve for a more 
successful cause at home the blood and trea- 
sure which they fruitlessly expend in operations 
abroad. Their attention will be wholly directed 
to their own defence, for which their means 
are abundantly sufficient — and to the develop- 
ment of those means. They may be cast down 
for the moment; but it should be remembered, 

4 

that the dejection of a great nation never leads 

* " With regard,*' says Mr. Burke, in his Regicide 
Peace, u to a general state of things, growing out 
"of events and causes already known in the gross, there 
" is no piety in the fraud that covers its true nature, be- 
" cause nothing but erroneous resolutions can be the 
" result of false representations. Those measures which 
" in common distress might be available, — in greater, 
" are no better than playing with the evil. That the effort 
16 may bear a proportion to the exigence, it is fit it should 
"be known; known in its quality, in its extent, and in 
" all the circumstances which attend it," &c. 



245 

to nerveless despair. The prospect of eminent 
danger tends rather to unite the virtue and to 
cement the strength than to embitter the fac- 
tions of a free and magnanimous people. 

Should we unite with France we can expect 
no trade in any event. But on the supposition 
that Bonaparte should be disposed to open his 
ports to us hereafter, of what advantage would be 
this indulgence, if the English are our enemies, 
and remain the masters of the seas? We should 
then be deprived not only of the lucrative, and 
almost necessary trade which, before the pre- 
sent misunderstanding, we enjoyed with Eng- 
land and her possessions, but of the immense 
market which may be opened to us in South 
America by a wise and liberal policy on both 
sides. As I believe the dispositions of the pre- 
sent ministry of Great Britain to be by no 
means friendly to this country, I would not 
counsel a negotiation with them at this mo- 
ment, if I did not conceive that we shall be soon 
driven to the alternative of a war with one or 
the other belligerent. But as France will have 



246 

no neutrality, and as a union with England is 
oiir only safeguard against the machinations of 
France., that union should be attempted now — 
and may be effected almost in spite of the Bri- 
tish ministry. Lord Grenville declared in the 
house of lords on the fifteenth of last February, 
that the ruin of England would be entailed by 
an unjust war with the United States, as he 
considered the moral virtue of his country to be 
of no less importance than its physical force. 
The nation may not reason from the same en- 
larged view of things, but they will adopt nearly 
the same conclusion, — and no ministry would 
dare to resist the public sentiment on this head, 
should we come forward, honestly and maril 
fully, to demand an accommodation. My own 
observation, however, enables me to state, that 
the people of England will not acquiesce in the 
total relinquishment of the right of impress* 
ment, or feel any concern in the discussion of 
mere speculative points — whether they belong- 
to colonial trade or to diplomatic etiquette. In 
the present condition of the world, such ques- 
tions dwindle into absolute insignificance, when 



247 

contrasted with the momentous interests which 
should occupy the attention of both countries. 
Our mutual and sole object at this moment 
should be the preservation of the institutions 
favourable to commerce and liberty, which 
have hitherto escaped the common enemy. 
Who, in the midst of a storm at sea, would 
abandon the helm, and commit the vessel to 
chance, because certain points could not be ad- 
justed about the enjoyment of a berth in the ca- 
bin? It is time to consult convenience when the 
dangers are past which threaten existence. 
There is no man, if he were invested with suit- 
able powers, better fitted to establish the friend- 
ship of the two countries upon a solid and last- 
ing basis, than the gentleman who is now our 
representative in London. His talents and his 
accomplishments eminently qualify him for the 
station which he occupies, — and are seconded 
by the most enlightened and indefatigable zeal 
for the true interests of his country. I bear this 
spontaneous testimony from a more intimate- 
knowledge of his character, and of the circum- 
stances under which he has been placed, than 






248 

can be possessed by those who have passed 
erroneous judgments on some parts of his offi- 
cial conduct. No one of his predecessors in the 
same office has surpassed him in acquirements, 
in genius or in manners, or maintained a more 
elevated rank among the distinguished person- 
ages by whom he is surrounded. 

Almost any state would be preferable to that 
in which we now are. To stand thus trembling 
and hesitating on the slippery verge of a war; 
to languish on in impotence and contempt; to 
be incessantly tossed about at the mercy of eve- 
ry event, is of all conditions that which most 
directly tends to palsy the spirit, and to destroy 
the confidence of a nation. Of all the evils 
which could befal a people situated as we are, 
the worst would be a government without any 
fixed principles or plan. No description of ru- 
lers would be as pernicious as that tribe of vul- 
gar politicians, whose measures are governed 
or dictated by accident; whose schemes are 
perpetually fluctuating; who live, according to 
an expression of Bolingbroke, from day to day, 



249 

and from hour to hour, agitated by every blast 
of wind, and borne away by every current, The 
statesmen to whom our destinies are now en- 
trusted, should be guided by considerations of 
a paramount nature to those which bear upon 
the mere temporary interests of trade. There 
are certain maxims of high and genuine state 
policy, as there are of superior economy, by 
which they may more effectually serve this 
country, than by giving us the commerce of the 
world, if such means must be employed to ob- 
tain it, as " a diplomacy of humiliation," and a 
connivance at the usurpations of the most sa- 
vage and rapacious, the most profligate and san- 
guinary of all the despotisms which have ever 
dishonoured and afflicted the human race. We 
are an infant nation, and should set an example 
of virtue to our posterity. It will be a more 
valuable inheritance than any accumulation of 
wealth, which, without such an example, they 
would want energy to defend. It behooves the 
government of this country to form a national 
character for us; — to cultivate and to mature in 

the people, generous and magnanimous feel- 

2 I 



250 

ings,— passions of a dignified and durable na- 
ture, excited and maintained under the influ- 
ence of conscience and honour. 

The consciousness of having made sacrifices 
to promote the cause of justice and humanity 
abroad, would inspire us with more enthusiasm 
to preserve, and give us more strength to guard 
our unrivalled institutions, than any increase of 
physical means derived from an ignominious 
and humiliating neutrality. Nations have been 
successfully carried through arduous struggles 
by the recollection of the achievements of their 
ancestors. The energy caught from the exam- 
ple of the latter has vanquished difficulties, 
which, without this aid, would have proved 
insurmountable. The British owe to the glori- 
ous sacrifices of their progenitors in favour of 
their constitution and of the liberties of Europe, 
much of that force of character, of that " vehe- 
ment and sustained spirit of fortitude," which 
will contribute, no less than their material re- 
sources, to render them invincible in the present 
struggle. There is scarcely more efficiency in 



251 

fleets and armies than in that exaltation of senti- 
ment which prefers the chance of ruin to the 
certainty of disgrace. 

A union with France, if not even ruinous in 
its immediate consequences, would be an indel- 
ible stain on our annals. Our descendants would 
turn with disgust from the page which might 
record so monstrous and unnatural an alliance. 
I know not, indeed, how an American will feel 
one century hence, when, in investigating the 
history of the late invasion of Spain, he shall 
inquire, what, on that occasion, was the conduct 
of his ancestors, the only republican people then 
on earth, and who claim almost an exclusive 
privilege to hate and to denounce, every act of 
ruffian violence, and every form of arbitrary 
power. It certainly will not kindle a glow of 
emulation in his mind, when he shall be told, 
that of this unparalleled crime, an oblique notice 
was once taken by our administration: that the 
people of this country seemed to rejoice at the 
triumph of the invader, and frowned on the ef- 
forts of his victims. 






252 

Mr. Jefferson had it in his power when all the 
horrors of this usurpation were first unfolded, to 
consolidate the public virtue, and perhaps, to fix 
for ever the destinies of this country. He could r 
indeed, have found justifiable causes of war in 
the insults and injuries which we ourselves had 
received from France, but he should have avail- 
ed himself of this event to hallow the contest in 
which sooner or later we must be engaged, and 
to call up a force of generous resolution, which, 
while it armed us with power, would have pu- 
rified and invigorated our attachment to repub- 
lican institutions. By entering in the name of a 
free people, his solemn and indignant protest 
against this fatal precedent of outrage, he would 
at once have buoyed up the people here, to a 
similar elevation of sentiment, and by throwing 
himself entirely on their magnanimity, could 
have wanted no better tenure for his place. 
Our present rulers, if they act upon a large and 
prospective view of our true interests, may re- 
trieve the character of this country. They will, 
I am quite sure, be seconded by an entire cor- 
respondence of feeling not only on our part, but 



253 

in the people of England, whatever may be the 
narrow policy or the illiberal prejudices of the 
British ministry. It is from our rulers however, 
that we expect, and perhaps only from them 
that we can receive the proper impulse. — 
" Whenever," says Gentz, " a real interest 
" commands, every national antipathy, though 
" existing from the earliest times, if it only 
" rests upon prejudice, must yield to more ur- 
" gent motives; and so it doubtless will, when 
" the guidance of nations is entrusted to the 
" wise and great; to men who are above all 
" narrow views, and superior to all little pas- 
" sions. The deliberate and decided measures 
'* of a truly enlightened government, intent up- 
" on important objects, break through the fet- 
" ters of popular opinion; are supported by the 
" wise, and carry the weak irresistibly along*" 



THE END 



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